Chapter 30: Sports Festival (1-1)
Today was the first day of the sports festival, which meant the train to UA was busier than usual. Once they arrived at the school, Himiko waved goodbye to Izuku before running off. Since the second years weren't competing until tomorrow, she made plans to meet up with her friends and walk around before the first years began the competition.
After Himiko left, Izuku began walking towards the stadium so that he could change into his gym uniform and get ready for the event. He only made it part way there before he was intercepted by All Might.
"Young Midoriya, can we speak for a moment?"
Izuku smiled at his mentor. "Sure!"
All Might led him to one of the private rooms in the stadium, where they sat down.
"As you know, UA has a lot of attention on its sports festival. In addition to that, your class has extra attention on them this year."
Izuku frowned at that. "Yeah, the media is still playing us up because of the USJ incident."
"Indeed. But you see, because of that attention, today is your chance to make a statement."
"A statement?"
"Yes!" All Might switched to his muscular form and posed. "Today is your chance to tell the world that you are here!"
Izuku's face lit up as he remembered Himiko showing her quirk off last year. "I get it!"
All Might returned to his true form and sat back down. "Because of that, it is important to think about how you want to approach the festival today. While it is a good chance to introduce yourself to the world, you also need to think about your image."
"M-my image?"
"Yes! What kind of hero do you want the world to see you as?"
"So it's not about winning?"
All Might laughed. "Winning is important, but how you win is equally important. How do you want people to feel when they see you?"
Izuku put his thumb on his lip as he thought about this. "How I win…"
Izuku's thoughts immediately jumped to Katsuki. He knew, objectively, that Katsuki had the skill necessary to win the whole event. But his attitude was terrible - he sought victory over everything else. He didn't want the world to see him like that. He wanted the world to see him like they saw All Might, where they were reassured by his arrival. He wanted to be seen as the hero willing to help those around him, no matter who they were.
Looking back at his mentor, Izuku smiled. "I think I know what kind of statement I want to make!"
That earned an approving smile from his mentor. "Excellent, now go out there and introduce yourself!"
Once he had changed, Izuku met up with the rest of his class in a gathering room. He walked over to his friends.
"I want us to team up for the first event."
"What? Wouldn't that be breaking the rules?" Tenya asked.
Izuku shook his head. "Not at all! It's actually pretty common for students to work together. After all, there are forty-two students that advance to the second round each year."
"And there are only forty hero course students, kero."
Izuku nodded. "Exactly! So for us, it's mostly about getting a good placement, which will affect us going into the second round."
"There's more to it, isn't there?" Ochako asked. She has spent enough time around Izuku the last few weeks, that she was starting to understand him better.
Izuku laughed nervously. "It's about Shinso - I know he's been training for the last two weeks, but I offered to help him out. After all, even though the event is primarily designed to showcase the hero course, there is still enough room for two students from the other courses to advance - I want to help him be one of those students."
"I knew it, kero."
This earned a chuckle from the other two students. The three had suspected Izuku was planning something. However, since they didn't see anything wrong with his idea, they agreed. The four of them then began brainstorming ideas, passing the time until Shoto walked up to the group.
"Midoriya."
"Hi Todoroki." Izuku spun around, greeting the normally reserved student.
"This sports festival is the first time to show all of Japan what we are capable of, and I intend to show everyone that I am better than you."
This caused half the class to exclaim in surprise. "W-What?"
"You are strong, and in many ways your quirk is similar to All Might's. You will be a good test of my strength, and I will show everyone that I am going to become the stronger hero."
"Hey, what about me?!" Katsuki complained in the background, but Shoto ignored him.
Izuku clenched his fist. "You're not wrong - right now you are almost certainly stronger than I am, but I'm not going to let that stop me!"
Shoto looked surprised by his statement. "Oh?"
"I may not currently have the raw strength as you do, but I still plan on doing my best! I want to show the world who I am, just as much as you do!"
The answer seemed to satisfy Shoto, a ghost of a smile forming on his lips. "Good, I wouldn't expect any less from my rival."
Shoto walked off, continuing to ignore the fact that Katsuki was now following him and trying to get his attention. Izuku turned back to his friends.
"That was intense!" Ochako said.
Izuku nodded. "Yeah. I never thought I'd be called out like that…"
The next few moments passed in awkward silence after Shoto's declaration before the class was finally called out to the field. As they walked out, Izuku could hear the cheers and feel the eyes on them.
"W-wow, they really are focused on our class!"
"Y-yeah. I knew it would be bad, but you can almost feel the pressure!"
"You're all lucky you don't have to hear what they are saying!" They heard Kyoko call out.
They reached their designated spot on the field, and then watched as all of the other classes filed in from their respective entrances. Once the first years were all assembled, Midnight walked out onto the temporary stage.
"Welcome to the first day of UA's Sports Festival!" She called out, raising her microphone in the air.
She gave the crowd a few moments to cheer before holding up her hands. "Before we begin, how about a few words from our students?" She gestured down to Katsuki. "As the highest scoring individual from the entrance exam, Katsuki Bakugo has the honor of giving the opening address."
The stadium was filled with silence as Katsuki slowly ascended the stage, and Izuku was nervous. He was already dreading what Katsuki was going to do with this opportunity.
Midnight handed Katsuki the microphone, and he turned around, looking at the other students. "You all better be prepared to lose, because I'm taking first place."
The other courses responded with a chorus of boos, causing Izuku to look over at the other classes with worry. Thankfully it seemed their attention was focused on the stage, and when he caught Itsuka's eyes she gave him a quick sympathetic smile.
At least they're focusing on Katsuki. Izuku felt relief wash over him. If he wants to face the world alone, then he is on his own. I won't let him bring the rest of us down with him.
They watched as Midnight took her microphone back. "My, what a bold declaration! Now then, let's see what the first event of the festival is!"
She raised her microphone and a giant screen appeared, the wheel on it spinning. Finally it landed on 'Obstacle Course.'
"The outside of the stadium has been converted into a four kilometer long track filled with surprises! How will our students handle it?" Midnight asked, hyping up the crowd.
The students were then sent to the starting area. As they were walking over, Izuku looked towards his friends. "We've got this, right?"
"Of course!"
"Yeah!"
"Kero."
Izuku looked over towards class 1-C and saw Hitoshi looking at him. Smiling, Izuku gave him a thumb's up, letting him know the plan was a go. Hitoshi returned with a small smile of his own, and returned the thumb's up.
As they got into position, Izuku spotted the first obstacle. "This gate is too small. Remember what happened at school two weeks ago?"
"You're right! We will need to be careful not to get caught."
The students heard Mic yell to start, and chaos broke out. Shoto, seeking to gain an early advantage, froze the ground inside the gate, trapping many students in ice. Izuku checked, and saw that all of his friends managed to avoid it and were currently making their way through the gate. For class 1-A, the ice actually proved to be beneficial, as it thinned out the crowd of students moving through the gate, providing an opportunity to those who weren't caught.
As Izuku looked back, he saw that Hitoshi wasn't so lucky, however. He, and the other general studies students, were busy trying to free themselves from the ice. Turning back, Izuku ran over to where Hitoshi was. Using his quirk, he punched the ground to create a shockwave, shattering the ice and freeing the purple-haired boy, as well as nearby members of 1-C.
Hitoshi smiled at him. "Thanks, guess you were serious."
"Of course I was serious! Now let's go!"
Izuku took a leap through the gateway, clearing most of the remaining students before hitting the ground running to catch up to his friends. Hitoshi followed, and it didn't take long for him to catch up, expanding the group of four to a group of five. Breaking out into a run, they continued until they found the next obstacle - an almost literal wall of robots.
"H-hey, isn't this excessive!"
They saw several other students already tackling the robots in their own ways. Katsuki was simply going over the problem, using his explosions to fly above the robots. Shoto, on the other hand, froze the robots, including several zero-pointers, in place, before using the opportunity to run through. Several students tried to follow him, but were unsuccessful as the zero-pointers began breaking out of the ice and began attacking the students.
Meanwhile, the rest of their classmates had begun their own attacks on the robots, trying to fight their way through the hoard to reach the other side. Seeing no other option, they decided to join the assault. Izuku charged in and punched a robot, watching it crumple under the force of his attack. Looking at the downed robot, he grabbed a loose plate of metal and pried it free, before tossing it to Hitoshi.
"Time to take some revenge for the entrance exam!"
Hitoshi smiled at that as he caught the makeshift weapon. "Gladly!"
Working together, the five managed to quickly carve their own path through the field of robots, narrowly escaping a massive zero-pointer that was beginning to fall under the combined efforts of the students. Once past the army of robots, the group raced onward, until they found the third major obstacle - the pits.
"This one is easy, kero." Tsuyu turned to Ochako. "If you can make everyone weightless I can pull everyone across!"
"That's a great idea!" Ochako agreed.
Tsuyu looked at the pits for a brief moment before she leapt to a platform that was halfway across the pits, before turning around and giving the group a thumb's up. Ochako used her quirk on the group one by one, before pushing them across the gap. Tsuyu would then grab onto them with her tongue and pull them to her, before Ochako released her quirk.
After all five were halfway across, they repeated the process. Thanks to their teamwork, they managed to make it across well ahead of all of the other students who were traversing the pits, except for Shoto and Katsuki.
Racing onwards, they came to the final obstacle - a minefield. Already Shoto and Katsuki were racing across the fields, using their quirks to try and avoid most of the mines. Unfortunately, several other students were finally clearing the pits and racing to catch up.
"None of our quirks are suitable for crossing this." Izuku said. "We just have to be careful!"
"But there are five of us!" Tenya pointed out. "We can work together to spot the mines."
Letting the observant Tsuyu take the lead, they began making their way through the minefield. In addition to helping each other watch out for mines, whenever someone was caught by an explosion, one of their friends was able to grab them and steady them, giving them a chance to recover. While this didn't let them gain any ground on their classmates, they still managed to exit the minefield with a solid lead over all of the other students, leaving only the final straightaway to go. They all broke out in a run.
Izuku saw Tenya and Tsuyu pulling ahead, and began pushing energy into his legs, risking pushing seven percent of his power behind his running jump towards the exit, his momentum just enough to cross the finish line ahead of Tenya. Once he landed he kept going, only slowing down once he was re-entering the arena. His legs were sore, but less than he was expecting as he began to massage them.
Seconds later, Tenya stopped beside him, also breathing heavily from his final push. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting that."
Izuku was calming his own breathing down before smiling at his friend. "The short distance plus straight line gave me the advantage, if the situation was different you would have beaten me handily."
"I need to get stronger, kero." Tsuyu remarked as she walked up next to them. "My body isn't built for running jumps."
"Sorry Tsu!"
A few moments later the rest of their group arrived, with Ochako and Hitoshi rejoining them, followed by the other students from 1-A and 1-B shortly after that.
"Try not leaving us behind next time." Hitoshi snarked, but the smile on his face showed he wasn't mad.
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, but once we were clear we all couldn't take third!"
"We made it though!" Ochako cheered.
The group walked back to the staging area to watch as the results screen filled up, adding names as the students crossed the finish line.
1st - Shoto Todoroki - Heroics
2nd - Katsuki Bakugo - Heroics
3rd - Izuku Midoriya - Heroics
4th - Tenya Iida - Heroics
5th - Tsuyu Asui - Heroics
6th - Ochako Uraraka - Heroics
7th - Hitoshi Shinso - General Studies
…
Izuku couldn't help but smile as he saw the results. As much as he would have liked to take first place, he felt satisfaction in knowing that his friends were in a good position for the second round.
Thinking ahead, Izuku began talking to himself. "The second round is where things get harder. Out of the forty-two competitors, only sixteen will be able to advance to the final round. While our scores from the first round will give us an advantage, it doesn't guarantee anything. In fact, the first place position makes Todoroki more vulnerable, assuming they maintain their usual pattern."
"You sure know a lot about how this works Deku!"
Ochako's words broke Izuku out of his trance and he began rubbing the back of his head as he felt his face heating up. "I've watched the sports festival for years! Plus Himi was in it last year, so I know the general format."
"So what is the plan for the next round?" Ochako asked.
"Well, we won't know the specific event until it is revealed, but it is usually some sort of game based around teams of four." Izuku looked at his friends. "I-I'm not sure how that will work with the five of us."
"Well, you don't have to worry about me." Hitoshi said.
Izuku looked surprised, earning a smirk from Hitoshi. "You know I've been meeting more hero students then just you guys, right? I don't want to be seen as the kid who only got in because of your help - I want to prove I deserve the spot on my own."
Izuku smiled. "That actually makes a lot of sense. Good luck! I hope to see you in the third round."
"I plan on it."
"Midoriya. I will not be joining your team for the next round either." Tenya announced.
"Huh?"
Tenya offered an apologetic smile. "I have been thinking about what Todoroki told you earlier, and Shinso reinforced that just now. At the end of the day, this is a competition. It would be best if I found another team to join as well. I do not want us to grow reliant on each other. Rather, I would prefer that our opposition strengthened each other!"
Izuku felt hurt by that sentiment, but pushed it down to offer a smile instead. "Well then, I'd better see you in the top sixteen then!"
"I expect the same from you!"
Tenya offered a hand, and Izuku took it, the two making an unspoken promise to each other before Iida separated from his friends.
As Tenya was leaving Izuku felt a familiar arm on his shoulder. "I'm still with you!"
Izuku turned and saw Ochako smiling at him, and his smile turned genuine. "Thanks."
Izuku turned to face Tsuyu. "What about you, Tsu?"
"I'm staying as well, kero. I don't think sticking together makes us weaker."
"Great! I guess we should see what the next event is before we find a fourth?"
The two girls nodded their agreement, and the trio turned towards the podium, where the list of winners had finally finished populating. As expected, all forty students from 1-A and 1-B were moving on to the second round, as well as Hitoshi and Mei Hatsume from the support course.
A few moments later, Midnight returned to the podium. "My my, what a wonderful collection of students this year! Now then, it is time to reveal the second round!"
With a flourish she pointed towards the screen, which had already shifted to the image of a spinning wheel, landing on the words 'Cavalry battle' with a picture of two stick figures hoisting a third on their shoulders.
"Everyone has fifteen minutes to form teams of two to four students, and figure out your strategies! At the end of the timer we will be distributing headbands to each team, equal to your team's total score. Then the actual battle will begin! This round will last for fifteen minutes, and at the end the top teams by score will advance to the finals!"
While Midnight finished giving her speech, Izuku had already begun to formulate strategies. "Tsuyu would be the obvious choice to act as our rider, her agility and small profile would make it easier to defend the headbands, and her tongue gives her a large reach to claim other headbands. Ochako and I can provide a solid amount of mobility between our quirks, but we will be weak on defense if we are forced to rely on evasion."
He was looking over the students trying to decide who he should ask for their final member when a girl with pink dreadlocks appeared in front of him, covered in support gear.
"Hey there!"
"H-hi!" Izuku took a step back, startled by the girl's sudden appearance and her apparent disregard for personal space.
"I'm Mei Hatsume, support student and genius extraordinaire!"
Izuku wasn't sure if he actually heard Emily yelling from the stands or if he was imagining it - honestly he would say it's even odds, depending on who Tomoe was letting spy with her.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you."
"I see you three are missing a fourth teammate, and I want to join!"
"Wait, you want to join us?"
"Oh come on, I'm not blind! Quite the opposite in fact!" She raised her goggles, and Izuku saw her eyes had crosshairs instead of traditional irises. "I saw how you guys teamed up and did amazing last round! You even helped the general studies student as well!"
"B-but wouldn't it be better to join the team with the most points?"
"Maybe!" She laughed. "But I saw your group working together! Unlike everyone else in your class."
"She has a point, kero. We were the only ones working as a team already, that may give us an edge over our classmates."
Ochako seemed more hesitant. "What would we gain by having you on our team?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Mei activated her hoverboots and began floating as she spun around slowly, showing a staggering number of devices strapped to her body. "I have so many babies to offer you guys!"
"B-babies?" Izuku and Ochako both became flustered at the comment.
"Yes!" Hatsume gestured to the various gadgets she was wearing. "With my babies we can do all sorts of things, I'm sure we can come up with a great plan!"
Izuku looked over the various devices Mei had on once he got over the initial shock of her eccentric name. Over the past year, he had gotten used to thinking about more personalized support gear. However, with the wide variety of devices Mei was offering, he was able to easily think of ways to shore up the weaknesses of his current plan.
Looking to his teammates for approval, Izuku finally turned back to Mei with a smile on his face.
"Welcome to the team!"
After registering their team, Mei dragged the group to a room set aside for the support students, where she had stored a crate full of support devices. After distributing jetpacks and hoverboots to Izuku and Ochako, Izuku looked over the other devices. He selected several that would be particularly useful against his classmates, and passed them out.
"Why is there a second year glaring at us?" Mei asked as they walked back onto the field.
Izuku looked over to where the second years were sitting and sure enough, he could pick out Emily.
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "She is actually the reason I know so much about support devices? She may be a hero student, but support gear is her hobby."
This seemed to flip a switch in Mei. "You have to introduce us!" She turned and waved.
Izuku laughed nervously. "Y-yeah, after the sports festival I can introduce you two." They will either kill each other or be best friends.
When their fifteen minutes were up, they got into formation - Ochako removed the gravity of all of the support gear, and the others hoisted Tsuyu onto their shoulders.
Izuku had a particular strategy in mind - avoid the teams led by Katsuki and Shoto. He already knew Shoto would draw the most attention with his headband worth ten million points, but his team was also filled with powerhouses - in addition to Shoto, there was Momo, Tenya, and Denki. And if they made a play for that headband and failed to grab it, or had it taken from them, they could very well lose the competition.
No, the better plan was to try going after the other teams and secure their headbands. It would once again keep him from scoring from first place, but the main goal was to advance to the third round.
They started off strong, with Tsuyu acting on her personal feelings and securing Team Mineta's headband immediately, and was chasing after another team to secure a second headband when Katsuki's team began charging them.
"Deku! I'm not letting you move on!" He yelled as they were charging.
"Mei, explosions!" Izuku called as Katsuki aimed his hands at them.
"On it!"
Mei aimed a small nozzle at Katsuki's team and pushed a button, causing foam to begin spraying out. The foam rapidly hardened into a shield that absorbed Katsuki's attack before exploding harmlessly, showering both teams in bits of foam. Izuku's team used the confusion as an opportunity to escape.
Katsuki was about to turn and make another pass at Izuku's team, but found his headband swiped by Neito. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as the student from 1-B antagonized Katsuki, and Katsuki responded by focusing on him, taking the pressure off of them.
They managed to secure a second headband from one of the 1-B teams before they got unwanted attention from the other team that Izuku was hoping to avoid, as Team Todorki charged straight at them. And where Team Todoroki went, several other teams with ambitions to secure the ten million points were not far behind.
Izuku recognized the telltale signs of Denki charging up. "Ochako, lightning rod!"
"Got it!" Ochako pushed a button and a box strapped to her side opened up. A pair of metal prongs extended out of the box, as well as several wires whose ends fell to the ground.
Moments later, they saw Momo cover her team in an insulating blanket, followed by Denki unleashing his electric shock attack. Their group saw several other teams caught by the electricity, but Mei's lightning rod captured the electricity and directed it into the ground, keeping them safe.
With several teams stunned, Tsuyu took advantage to claim another headband for their team. "Thanks for the help, kero!"
That seemed to anger Shoto, who launched a massive wave of ice at them. They tried to use their jetpacks to get away, but weren't fast enough as Mei's boots were caught in the ice.
"Oh no you don't!" Mei yelled as she pushed a button, and all three of their jetpacks went into overdrive, spewing out long trails of fire. It did the trick, and moments later the group was thrown into the air as the ice melted enough that they broke free. Thankfully Tsuyu was able to cling to her teammates, helping the formation stay together.
They landed on the other side of the glacier, and breathed a sigh of relief. Todoroki's ice had given them some space between themselves and the other teams.
"Drat, my boots got messed up by that ice." Mei was complaining. "It's ok baby, I'll fix you good as new after this!"
Izuku looked up at the time remaining - two minutes, and they were currently in second place. "We're almost there!"
They just had to hold out without more limited mobility.
"Deku, can you break off some of the ice?" He turned his head to see Ochako had a determined look on her face.
"Yeah, I can!"
The team moved towards the glacier, and Izuku punched it, shattering off pieces from it. Ochako proceeded to touch the chunks of ice, causing them to float above their heads. They managed to finish preparations just in time, as Team Todoroki worked their way around the ice and confronted them a second time.
"There's still enough time left to make you lose." Shoto told them.
"Leave it to me!" Tenya called out, before he began overcharging his engines.
"Release!" As soon as she saw what Tenya was doing, Ochako launched her own attack, sending all of the ice raining down onto the opposing team.
The biggest surprise came when Izuku saw Shoto actually used his fire to melt several larger chunks, protecting his teammates. Izuku couldn't remember another time over the past three weeks when he saw Shoto actually use his fire.
Fortunately for their team, the distraction created by the attack gave them the time they needed. By the time Team Todoroki recovered, a bell rang out, and Present Mic announced the end of the match.
Both groups looked towards the scoreboard.
1st - Team Todoroki - 10,000,0950
2nd - Team Asui - 1,255
3rd - Team Shinso - 935
4th - Team Bakugo - 650
…
"We did it!" Izuku cheered.
"We did it!" Ochako echoed him.
"That was great, kero."
He felt Mei put her hand on his shoulder and lean in, ignoring personal space. "See, I knew you were the right choice! And I even got to show off a few of my babies!"
Izuku felt his face flushing. "T-thanks! I'm glad you had all of the tools we needed."
"Of course! If you need babies, come to Mei Hatsume!"
They set Tsuyu down and returned to the staging area, not having to wait long for Midnight to return to the stage.
"What an exhilarating match! Because the top four teams each had four students on them, they will all be advancing to the final round. How about we see what the final match will be!"
The screen displaying the wheel returned, the wheel spinning before landing on 'Hand to Hand combat,' with a picture of two stick figures facing off.
"Unarmed combat! It will be an exhilarating display of one on one combat between our students! We will take an hour break to let our competitors prepare, but before we go, I'm sure you're all dying to see the brackets."
With a wave of her microphone, the screen changed, displaying the matchups. As he stood there, Izuku couldn't help but stare at the matches, several standing out to him, and he couldn't help but feel a weight settling in his stomach.
Top 16:
Izuku Midoriya vs Ibara Shiozaki
Tenya Iida vs Mei Hatsume
…
Ochako Uraraka vs Katsuki Bakugo
Looking over, he saw Ochako also had a worried look on her face, but when she made eye contact with him, her face filled with determination.
"Deku, I need your notebook."
"Sure! When we get back to the waiting room it's in my bag."
"Thanks!" Ochako looked away from him. "I was thinking about what Iida said. I need to get stronger on my own as well, so I need to figure out how to fight Bakugo myself. B-but I still would like to see your notes to help me figure out a plan!"
Izuku nodded. "I get it. If my notes will help you can look at them!"
The two began to walk back to the bleachers when Shoto approached them. "Midoriya, can we talk?"
"S-sure." Izuku responded, before turning to Ochako. "I'll catch up with you in a minute!"
"Ok Deku!"
Turning, Izuku followed Shoto in silence until they were in an empty hallway underneath the arena.
Shoto finally turned towards Izuku, looking down at his hands before finally making eye contact. "Is All Might your father?"
Izuku stared at him in stunned silence, before breaking down in laughter.
Shoto was taken back by his response. "What's so funny?"
"I-If my dad was All Might, then he'd actually have a good excuse for never being around, and I could actually be proud of him." Izuku had stopped laughing and was now glaring at Shoto.
"But your quirk and his are similar!" Shoto protested.
"And my actual dad has a fire breathing quirk. Does that mean we're cousins?" Izuku asked.
"N-no, of course not." Shoto admitted.
"Just because All Might possesses super strength, and my quirk lets me give myself super strength, doesn't mean we're related! There are ten billion people on this planet, and approximately eight billion of them have quirks. Statistically speaking, there are multiple people who possess quirks similar to All Might."
"People who possess similar quirks."
Shoto paused for a moment, looking down at his hands, before he continued. "Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"
Izuku looked shocked by that. "You mean the practice where two people are paired with the intention of strengthening their quirks?"
"That is putting it nicely." Shoto frowned. "The truth is, my father went out of his way to find my mother, looking for a powerful quirk to pair up with his own fire. He paid her family a hefty amount for the right to marry her."
Shoto looked down at his hands. "And he finally got what he wanted with me. A successor who possesses a strong, unique quirk. It's why I refuse to use my fire. I will reject my father, and become the number one hero, surpassing him, while only using my mother's ice."
Shoto looked up, locking eyes with Izuku. "But despite that goal, your team forced me to use my fire."
Izuku could only stare in shock. "No wonder you would think I'm All Might's kid."
"What do you mean?"
"Quirk marriages were outlawed! The practice is dehumanizing! They reduce people down to nothing but their quirks!" Izuku had to restrain himself from yelling. "If you grew up in that type of environment, it makes sense how you could think All Might would have a secret child just for the purpose of passing on his quirk!"
"But what about the attention he gives you? He's not exactly subtle about it."
"There was a villain attack about a year ago here in Mustafu. The media coverage did their best to avoid mentioning it, but when the heroes refused to act, there was a kid who did. A kid that everyone thought was quirkless."
Shoto's eyes went wide at the implication. "You-"
"Yes, I ran into the middle of a villain attack. I was able to buy All Might enough time to arrive and help. It turns out that All Might remembers something like that."
Shoto seemed deep in thought, reflecting on what Izuku was saying.
Izuku continued. "And you know what? I'm grateful!"
"What?"
"After ten years of dealing with adults who judged me for my lack of a quirk, only to change their tune the moment my quirk manifested, I am grateful that All Might found something in me that wasn't tied to a quirk."
Shoto looked down at his hands again, before looking at Izuku. "I see. I was right to choose you as my rival then."
"And I don't care." Izuku was glaring at him. "As much as I look up to All Might, I am not him. Is this really how you want to be seen, as nothing more than an extension of Endeavor? If you want to fight a proxy war with All Might for him, be my guest. Just - leave me out of it."
With that, Izuku turned and walked away. He heard Shoto trying to say something, but he wasn't listening. He was too angry at Shoto - and at Endeavor - to care.
He had much more important things to do. Ochako asked to see his notebook, after all.
Chapter 31: Sports Festival (1-2)
After the break, it was time for the third round to begin, starting with Izuku's match.
Saying his goodbyes to his friends, he returned to the waiting area and began mentally preparing himself, going over what he knew about his opponent. Ibara's quirk was powerful, and she finished the first round right behind his group, so he didn't want to underestimate her.
When he heard Mic call out his name over the PA system he returned to the field, walking onto the arena that Cementoss created over the break. In the distance, he was hearing Present Mic hyping up the crowd.
He heard Mic introduce him and he walked onto the stage. After that, he heard Present Mic call out an introduction for Ibara, but rather than join him, she turned around and looked towards the booth.
"Um, excuse me, but could you please not call me an assassin?"
"W-what?" Izuku heard Mic's surprise over the PA system.
"I am here to be a hero, not an assassin! Therefore I respectfully disagree with that description!"
"S-sorry. The queen of vines from class 1-B, Ibara Shiozaki!"
"Thank you!" She called out, seemingly satisfied with the answer as she walked onto the stage, giving Izuku a polite bow. "Sorry about that."
Izuku shook his head. "No problem! I can understand not wanting that title associated with you!"
She smiled at that. "Thank you for understanding, now then, shall we?"
Izuku nodded as he moved into a fighting stance. "Yep!"
They both looked towards Midnight, who went over the rules one final time, before raising her microphone.
"Begin!"
Izuku dropped low to the ground and began running towards Ibara. He saw her activate her quirk, the rumbling under his feet the only warning he was given before vines broke out of the ground underneath him. He jumped at the last moment, his quick reflexes the only thing saving him from a massive column of vines knocking him into the sky.
Landing several feet away, he continued to charge, preparing a smash attack. As he was swinging his fist Ibara smiled and created a shield of vines in front of her, catching his attack on them. The vines themselves were blown apart, but he saw Ibara standing there completely unharmed.
"You are fast, but not fast enough." She said as she launched a counterattack, and Izuku saw several vines coming straight at him.
Izuku jumped upwards to leap over the vines, landing in a crouch. Before he could recover, he was attacked by another group of vines, knocking him aside. By the time he caught himself and returned to a standing position he noticed that he was dangerously close to the edge of the ring.
"Now then, let's end this!" Ibara yelled, as she plunged another wave of vines into the ground. Not wanting to be caught again, Izuku began running, taking small running jumps around the arena as he tried to figure out more about her quirk.
Once she commits to doing something with her vines, there's a brief window before she can change her plans. I have to get her to commit and move fast.
Formulating a plan, Izuku stopped, and he saw Ibara pause her own attacks - she knew something was up, and recognized that whomever made the first move would be at a disadvantage.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku began charging Ibara, making it obvious he was going for another punch, while also reinforcing both of his legs. Ibara smirked as she began creating her shield again.
"What, are you out of tricks already?"
"Not at all!" Izuku called out as he jumped to the side, and as soon as he hit the ground kicked off with his other leg to launch himself straight at Ibara.
She gasped in surprise as she tried moving her shield, but wasn't fast enough as Izuku flew inside her defenses and finally connected with a punch, sending her flying.
Ibara caught herself with her vines, saving herself from going out of the ring immediately. But before she could recover Izuku was right next to her again, grabbing her arm and throwing her out of the ring.
"Midoriya wins!" Midnight calls out.
Izuku smiled and walked over to where Ibara was pushing herself up, and offered his hand.
"I'm sorry I had to hit you so hard, you weren't giving me many options."
Ibara smiled back and took his hand, using the leverage to pull herself up. "Thank you for not going easy on me."
"Of course! We're here to show everyone what we can do, right?"
Letting go, Izuku returned to the ring, where Midnight was waiting. "Oh my, and he is so humble about his win too!"
She grabbed his hand and raised it, presenting him as the winner, and Izuku couldn't help but smile.
After rejoining his friends, Izuku pulled out his phone and sent a text to Emily while they were waiting for the next match to begin.
Me: After the festival you are going to need to meet Hatsume. You're either going to kill her or you're going to want to introduce her to your parents.
Putting his phone down, he pulled out his notebook.
"You're starting a page for Hatsume?" Ochako asked him.
Izuku looked up. "Of course! Even if it's not a traditionally heroic quirk, there's still plenty of things she can do with it! Plus she has plenty of ideas about support gear."
"She needs to learn the meaning of personal space though." Ochako grumbles.
Izuku flushed at that. "Y-yeah. She came off a little strong."
That earned a laugh from Ochako. "That's saying a lot, coming from you."
Izuku couldn't help but laugh in agreement.
Midnight began announcing the next match and the two turned their attention toward the arena. Both were surprised to see Tenya walking out covered in support gear.
"Wait, why is Iida covered in support equipment?"
"I don't know, I thought Mei would be the only one with support equipment unless someone requested an exception."
Their question was answered as soon as Midnight called for the match to begin. As soon as she did, Mei held up what looked like a large trigger and pushed it, hijacking the speaker system in the arena.
"Hello support companies! I hope you're ready to watch as I, Mei Hatsume, stun you with my amazing gadgets!"
Everyone could only stare in shock until Izuku felt a buzzing in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw he had a message.
Song: Oh yes, we need to meet! My parents aren't here today but a rep is in the crowd.
Izuku smiled at that, before typing out a reply.
Several minutes later, he heard his phone buzzing again, this time he received a message from Himiko.
Himi: I get the idea of a demonstration but this is excessive! I hope she didn't get the idea from me last year :(
Izuku couldn't help but snicker, and typed a response back.
After giving what amounted to a sales pitch for a solid ten minutes, Mei finally wrapped up the demonstration and landed outside of the ring, before taking one final bow and walking off. Even Midnight needed a minute to realize what just happened before she entered the ring and declared Tenya the winner.
A few minutes later Tenya returned to the bleachers and sat down, visibly upset at the way the match went.
Izuku turned to him. "I almost feel bad for saying this but congratulations on the win? And Himiko says she is sorry about the way things happened."
Tenya crossed his arms. "Hmph, why would she feel bad about what happened?"
"I don't know if you remember what happened at the sports festival last year, but she actually did something similar."
"Of course she would pull something like that. Of all the underhanded…!"
"No no, it was nothing like that!" Izuku waved his hands in front of him. "So, she made the elimination rounds last year."
"The mock sword fighting?"
Izuku nodded. "Yes. But she was going up against Atsuko, and there was no way a shapeshifting quirk was going to give her a chance vs her air barriers. Himi had the speed and agility advantage, but that wasn't going to be enough. So they made a deal. What Himi really wanted was for people to see her quirk. After all, the point of the sports festival is to show off, right? So Atsuko agreed to let her transform at the beginning of the match, and they made a show of it. After that it was no-holds barred."
Tenya closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he was processing the information. "And how did the match end?"
"As expected, Himi lost. But Atsuko letting her show off? It was enough to get her almost 100 internship requests."
"I see. So she feels sympathy for Hatsume then. Under normal circumstances she stood no chance against me but wanted to show off her ability to build support items."
"Exactly. Although Hatsume wasn't upfront about it, and her demonstration was a little much."
"Had she explained that in the same terms you just did, I may have been more inclined to go along with her plan." Tenya slammed his fist into an open palm. "As it was, her actions were shameful and underhanded!"
The next match ended almost as soon as it began. Midnight barely had time to call out to begin before Shoto launched a massive attack, freezing half of the stadium in a massive glacier. He succeeded in trapping Hanta, as well as several pro heroes in his ice. Midnight quickly called the match for Shoto, but then called for a break as everyone was forced to wait until the ice was removed before they could continue.
Hitoshi was up next, facing Denki, and the match turned out to be similarly lopsided. As they were standing there before the match began Denki appeared to be trash talking Hitoshi. But as soon as Midnight called to begin, Denki's face went blank and he turned around and walked out of the ring. As he was doing so Aizawa took over commentary, explaining Hitoshi's quirk to the crowd, while carefully avoiding mention of its activation condition.
When Midnight declared Hitoshi the winner the general studies section broke out into cheers for him. Curious, Izuku looked over to where the heroes were seated, and he saw a number of underground heroes were also talking amongst themselves. It looks like Hitoshi getting the attention he wanted.
The next round was Momo versus Tokoyami. Izuku leaned forward to watch the match, curious to see how Momo would put her analysis lessons into practice. At the signal to begin, Momo created a mirror, reflecting sunlight onto Dark Shadow, making him flinch back. This gave Momo the time she needed to create several flashbangs.
When everyone was able to see the arena again, they saw that Momo was standing at the edge of the arena, and Tokoyami was outside the arena. Momo looked happy as Midnight recovered, walking into the arena and declaring her the winner.
Tsuyu was next, facing Mina. At the beginning Tsuyu appeared to have the early advantage, using her agility to avoid the acid, and getting a few solid hits in with her tongue. Mina soon switched up her tactics, however and began coating the entire arena in her slick acid.
This strategy worked surprisingly well, and Tsuyu quickly found herself running out of clear space to stand. Unable to stick to the ground, Tsuyu found herself thrown off-balance, while Mina was used to skating around on top of her acid. Once she had claimed the advantage, Mina knocked Tsuyu out of the arena.
After that was Eijrio vs Hiryu Rin from class 1-B. Hiryu's dragon quirk worked both on offense and defense, but Eijiro's hardening proved to be the more effective quirk for the event format. Not only was he able to block the scales Hiryu fired off as attacks, but his hardened punches were strong enough to break through the scales on Hiryu's body. It took a few minutes, but Eijiro eventually managed to wear down his opponent and win.
Izuku swallowed as Present Mic announced the final match from the top 16 - Ochako versus Katsuki.
He turned to the brown-haired girl and forced a smile to his face. "Good luck! Take him down!"
Ochako forced a smile of her own and gave him a thumb's up. "Don't worry, I will! I have a plan!"
Watching Ochako take on Katsuki was rough. Despite watching Ochako get thrown around so much, Izuku found himself impressed by the tactics Ochako had come up with over the past couple of hours. She was staying low, using Katsuki's explosions to her advantage by having him aim downwards, exploding against the ground and creating debris. Then, using the smoke as cover, she was able to touch the debris and remove its gravity, pushing it into the air and building a large cloud of objects in the sky.
Despite constantly being pushed back, she wore a face of determination the entire time, refusing to back down. It was inspiring to watch, really. Izuku hoped that when the time came, he was able to push past his limits the same way he was watching Ochako do right now. Doing some quick mental calculations, he guessed she was already past the current weight capacity for her quirk, and somehow she was still adding more and more debris.
Finally, she decided it was now or never and she used her ultimate attack on Katsuki. Unfortunately, Katsuki surprised everybody, even Izuku, with his counter. He raised his hand and let loose a massive explosion - Izuku failed to notice that Katsuki was only attacking with his right hand, and building up sweat on his left arm, saving it for one massive attack of his own.
Even after her attack failed, Ochako was still standing, trying to continue. Sadly her body finally gave out and she collapsed onto the ground.
Izuku dropped his notebook and took off towards the temporary infirmary.
Himiko was sitting there, her mouth hanging open as she watched the match conclude.
"So, that's your future sister-in-law huh?" Atsuko asked from next to her.
Himiko took a moment to recover. "Screw Izu, I'm going to marry her!"
"What!? Are you freaking kidding me!?" She could hear Emily's indignant cry from her other side.
This caused Himiko and Atsuko to burst out laughing.
"Of course I'm kidding! I've seen how Izu and Uraraka look at each other." Himiko smiled fondly. "Izu deserves to be happy. I'm not going to mess that up for him."
"So you're saying that she is, in fact, going to be your future sister-in-law?" Atsuko asked again.
"I mean, obviously."
Himiko stuck out her tongue at her friend and then pulled out her phone to text her brother.
"What are you doing?"
"Just because I'm not going to make any moves towards her doesn't mean I can't threaten Izu a little."
Himiko showed her friend the message she wrote, causing Atsuko to giggle as she hit send. They were too busy laughing to notice that next to them, Tomoe put a comforting hand on Emily's shoulder and offered her a comforting smile.
After missing her at the infirmary, Izuku ran to the locker room, wanting to make sure Ochako was ok. When he got there he took a moment to calm down, before opening the door.
"Oh, hey Deku!" Ochako gave him a wobbly smile.
"I wanted to see how you're doing after that match."
"Oh, I'm disappointed but I'll be fine." She closed her eyes to try and contain her tears, giving him a shaky thumb's up. Her arm felt heavy but she refused to show weakness.
Deku closed the door behind him and closed the gap between them, pulling Ochako into a hug. "You don't have to hide it, you know."
"W-what do you mean?" Ochako felt her face heating up from the sudden contact.
Izuku knew the look on Ochako's face. He has seen it in the mirror far too often. "I've seen that look before. You're more than just disappointed, aren't you?"
Ochako felt her eyes clouding up. "I… I feel like I failed."
She grabbed Izuku's shirt as the tears she was trying to hold back began to fall. "I wanted to show off my quirk more, to let people see more of what I can do, and I couldn't even get past the first round. It sucks."
"Uraraka, you did great. Everyone was rooting for you, and the strategy you were able to put together was impressive!"
"It still hurts."
"You know what makes us heroes? Even when it hurts, we keep getting back up again. As long as we can still stand up, we can learn from our failures and continue forward." Izuku slowly rubbed Ochako's back to comfort her.
"Thanks Deku. It helps hearing that." She rubbed her eyes to wipe away the remaining tears, before finally pulling away and offering him a genuine smile. "I promise I'll be ok, and your match starts soon right? So go out there and win, ok?"
"I'll do my best." Izuku smiled softly back at her.
As Izuku pulled out his cell phone to set it down, he saw one message from his sister. He opened it up.
Himi: If you don't marry her I will.
Izuku quickly locked the screen on his phone and slammed it down, his face turning bright red. Suddenly unable to look at Ochako, he opened the door and bolted out of the room, giving her privacy while she answered a phone call.
Izuku had recovered from his embarrassment by the time he made it to the waiting room. His next opponent was Tenya, and he was going to be a tough opponent to face. Tenya is already fast, and his super move could end the match immediately if he wasn't careful.
"Midoriya, I hope you are ready!" Tenya called out as they both got into position.
Izuku nodded. "Of course!"
"Begin!" Midnight called.
Tenya immediately began running towards Izuku, trying to land a powered kick, but Izuku was able to jump out of the way.
"You telegraph your kicks!" Izuku called out.
This seemed to offend Tenya, who rushed in and rammed into Izuku, trying to shove him out of the arena. Izuku stumbled for a moment before punching Tenya in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and giving Izuku the precious seconds he needed to escape, putting some space between the two of them.
"I see, my normal attacks aren't enough." Tenya appeared to be talking to himself. "I'm going to have to use it."
Izuku saw Tenya change his stance, and recognized he was getting ready to use his super move. Mind racing, he thought about how to counter it. He is too fast, I won't have the time I need to avoid him with my normal jumps.
Unless…
Izuku looked down. Can I hold continuous power in my legs for ten seconds? That would give me the mobility I need.
"Recipro Burst!" Tenya yelled, as he overcharged his engines and began running towards his opponent..
Seeing no other options, Izuku called upon One For All and felt the energy flowing into his legs. He wasn't even sure he could use it this way, but he was out of time to come up with another plan.
Ten
Tenya was on him impossibly fast, and Izuku barely was able to jump away in time.
Nine, Eight
Izuku landed, but managed to keep One For All moving through his legs. Tenya had to waste precious time to stop and start moving again, and Izuku jumped past him, continuing to keep his distance.
Seven, Six, Five, Four
It has only been seconds, but Izuku was already feeling more confident about his ability to hold power in his legs. Unfortunately, Tenya was also getting better at changing direction after a failed attempt to grab him. He just had to hold out a little longer.
Three, Two, One
Izuku landed in the middle of the arena, letting the energy in his legs dissipate and powering his arms instead. As expected, Tenya was immediately on top of him, and began pushing him towards the arena edge.
Zero
Izuku felt Tenya stall out, as he lost the strength to push him out of the ring. Tenya had a disappointed look on his face as he looked down at his engines.
"Sorry." Izuku apologized before grabbing Tenya's arm, and throwing him out of the ring.
"Midoriya wins!" Midnight calls, and the crowd cheered.
Izuku walked out of the ring to Tenya and offered up his hand.
"You knew exactly how long I could use my Recipro Burst!" Tenya said as he took the offered hand.
Izuku responded sheepishly. "I may have been keeping track when you used it in training."
"I see." Tenya pulled himself up. "I made the right choice then, I must strive harder to improve myself."
"You made me push myself to even stand a chance against your Recipro Burst." Izuku admitted. "How about we continue to help each other improve?"
"Gladly!" Tenya smiled, before releasing his hand and walking away.
"My my. Two young students, honing their skills in the trials of combat. What can be more exciting!" Midnight spoke to the crowd as Izuku returned to the arena.
Izuku rushed back to the bleachers in time to see the next match, catching up with Tenya along the way. He wanted to see if Hitoshi was capable of catching Shoto with his quirk, or if Shoto was going to end the match immediately a second time. No matter who won, Izuku was not looking forward to the next round.
Midnight announced the match, and he saw the two face off. From where he was sitting, Izuku couldn't hear what was being said, but it looked like Hitoshi was trying to bait Shinso. Opening his notebook, Izuku took out a pencil and began scribbling theories about it.
Hopefully Hitoshi will be more open to talking about his quirk after the tournament. He has understandably been quiet about his quirk the few times they have talked over the past two weeks. Izuku couldn't blame him - knowing the activation conditions for his quirk would give anyone a huge advantage against him going into the sports festival. Izuku couldn't help but be curious though, so he continued to speculate.
As soon as Midnight announced for the match to begin, Shoto shot out a wave of ice, freezing Hitoshi's legs into place. Not taking any chances, Shoto sent out a second wave of ice that captured Hitoshi's arms and torso, preventing him from moving. Shoto then turned to Midnight, who briefly talked to Hitoshi, before declaring Shoto the winner.
Izuku frowned. That meant he was taking on Shoto next round after all. Flipping the pages of his notebook, he began reviewing what he knew about his classmate's quirk.
The next match was Momo facing off against Mina. Mina had the agility advantage over her opponent, but Momo's quirk gave her the edge.
Mina opened the match by throwing a volley of acid at Momo, and Momo responded by creating a shield, stopping most of it and protecting herself. She discarded the shield and formed a second, reinforced, shield to keep her safe from any further attacks. Izuku saw she was creating something else, using the shield to hide it from Mina.
Momo played the defense for a few moments, blocking Mina's attacks and only putting up token resistance as she backed closer to the edge.
"What is she doing? At this rate she's going to lose!" Tenya observed.
"I think she's planning something." Izuku responded. "She has something that she is hiding from Mina."
Finally, the opportunity Momo was waiting for arrived. Mina began skating towards her, using her acid to quickly slide towards Momo and build momentum, when Momo revealed the object she had been hiding - a large net. Throwing it, she was able to catch Mina in it, tangling her up. While Mina was trying to use her acid to untangle herself, Momo stepped aside, using Mina's momentum against her as she shoved her out of the arena.
"That was super cool!" Ochako said.
"She just needed the right opening for her plan." Izuku said.
"I see. So Yaoyorozu was feigning weakness to make the enemy overconfident." Tenya mused to himself.
"Exactly. Yaoyorozu used her enemy's strength against them. It's the same principle that many martial arts styles use."
"Maybe I should try picking up martial arts…" Ochako was talking to herself as Izuku looked back down at his notebook, adding some new information to his classmate's pages.
After a short break to clear the arena of acid, the final round of the top eight began - Eijiro versus Katsuki. The match went roughly as Izuku expected it to. Eijiro has the durability to stand up to some of Katsuki's explosions, but the way Katsuki's quirk worked meant that pushing himself harder only gave him more fuel to power his explosions.
After a few minutes of Katsuki keeping Eijiro on the defensive, he hit Eijiro with an explosion to the stomach, and Eijiro was actually thrown back.
"What just happened?"
"Bakugo overwhelmed Kirishima's hardening." Izuku replied, thinking back to his analysis lessons. "Kirishima may appear invulnerable, but there is actually a limit to how long he can use his quirk for, and it looks like Bakugo figured that out."
"So he just kept blasting until Kirishima couldn't keep his hardening up?"
"Yeah. Kirishima was always going to reach his limit before Bakugo."
"That's a shame."
It took several more explosions, but in the end Katsuki forced Eijiro out of the ring, and Midnight declared him the winner.
Izuku stood up to go to the locker room and prepare for the match. Turning around, he saw Shoto was already standing, a strange look on his face as their eyes met. Shoto broke eye contact first, turning away and heading into the stadium.
"What was that about?"
"I'm not sure." Izuku replied. He had shoved their earlier conversation aside, but now that he was going to be facing him, everything was flooding back.
"Good luck! I would hate to see you fail now!"
"Thanks!"
Izuku turned around to smile at his friends before he left. He had a few minutes, and wanted to use the time to think about how he wanted to handle the next match.