"First-year students, enter!"
Over the lounge's broadcast, Present Mic shouted.
Arthur and the others slowly walked into the arena amidst the cheers of 120,000 spectators.
The golden sunlight streamed down, making Arthur instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes. Squinting, he muttered to himself, "I really don't like this blinding sunlight."
On the four large screens in the spectator stands, Present Mic, acting as commentator, was shouting with passion.
"Hey! To all the viewers across the nation! And to the swarming media and hero agencies! This year, your favorite high school youth rampage!"
"The event has officially begun! Everybody, are you ready!!??"
Under Present Mic's energetic commentary, the atmosphere of the arena was hyped to the extreme. The cheers, converging and threatening to pierce the sky, made students with weaker nerves like Izuku Midoriya start to feel their legs tremble.
When Class A walked out, the cheers of the entire venue instantly reached their peak.
After the sensational USJ Incident, they had gained unprecedented attention in hero society, which other classes couldn't compare to.
Therefore, when other classes walked in from the entrance, their expressions also showed a hint of resentment.
Whether adults or children, everyone likes to receive more attention from others.
Especially Class B, also from the Hero Course, was the most unconvinced by Class A.
In their opinion, the matter was entirely resolved by All Might. Class A just happened to be lucky enough to encounter the villains.
What they didn't know was that, by the unanimous decision of the U.A. faculty, the entire sequence of battles involving Arthur and Class A during the incident had been deliberately erased.
First-year Class 11 assembled in the main arena.
And upon seeing the chief referee in the referee's area, Midnight, dressed in her usual R-rated Hero outfit, immediately made many male students blush, unsure where to look.
"Midnight, what kind of outfit is that?"
"As expected of the R-rated Hero!"
"Awesome!"
Eijiro Kirishima, Denki Kaminari, Minoru Mineta, and a host of other male students whispered amongst themselves.
"Silence! The pledge of the student representative!"
Seemingly oblivious to her provocative attire, Midnight slammed her leather whip on the podium, making a "thwack" sound, and pointed it towards Class A.
"Student representative, Class A's Momo Yaoyorozu!"
"Me?"
Momo Yaoyorozu pointed at herself, somewhat disbelieving.
She had originally thought that after the USJ Incident, Arthur was the strongest in the class and the most suitable representative.
But Momo didn't know that not long ago, Arthur had once again violated the Quirk regulation laws, and even nearly fought with the No. 3 Hero, Hawks.
The original plan was indeed for him to give the student pledge, but a monitor sent by the Hero Association was also watching.
To ensure safety in case of any unforeseen circumstances, it was deemed safer for Momo Yaoyorozu, who had the top entrance exam score as a recommendation student, to do it.
"I don't like standing on stage and putting on a show like that."
Arthur's voice softly sounded in Momo's ear.
After giving him a glare, Momo quickly walked onto the stage and, in a refined, aristocratic tone, began to recite a truly exemplary pledge.
Is this what it means to be a class representative?
"Tch, boring speech."
Among the Class A crowd, Katsuki Bakugo kicked the ground of the sports field.
Izuku Midoriya, standing on the other side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a good thing that Yaoyorozu, the top recommendation student, was giving the pledge. If it had been Katsuki Bakugo, there's no telling what kind of trouble he would have caused.
"Alright, let's get started!"
Perhaps not entirely satisfied with Momo's overly standard pledge, Midnight licked her lips with a mischievous glint in her eyes, pointing her whip at the large screen behind her.
"First event: a 4-kilometer obstacle race!"
It was a very ordinary event, yet no one showed a relaxed expression. U.A.'s tests were never simple.
Soon, Midnight began to explain the rules to everyone.
The main points were not to leave the track, and Quirks could be used freely.
However, one thing to note was that Quirks were not allowed to be used to attack other participants.
Upon hearing this rule, Momo Yaoyorozu, Yoarashi Inasa, Shoto Todoroki, and a few other students from Class B who had taken the recommendation exam subconsciously looked towards Arthur.
Clearly, they recalled the 'power' Arthur had displayed back then.
"If you want to be first, knock everyone else out."
Under Midnight's direction, everyone lined up at the starting line, jostling for an advantageous position.
Arthur, however, leisurely walked to the very back, to the least crowded spot.
"Hey, aren't you going to move forward a bit?"
Seeing Arthur standing at the very back, Midnight couldn't help but call out to him.
Arthur replied indifferently, "I don't want their hands, which have touched their little brothers, to touch me."
Arthur's words almost made Midnight and the other students choke on their own saliva.
But upon closer thought, there was indeed some logic to it.
However, compared to that, ranking was more important.
Just as Arthur's surprising words rang out, the indicator lights at the starting gate of the track began to light up, signaling the countdown.
3... 2... 1!!!
The moment the last indicator light lit up, all the students surged forward, only to find the first passage ahead extremely narrow.
Everyone immediately crashed into each other, creating utter chaos.
"The first screening has begun."
On the commentary stand, Shota Aizawa, covered in bandages, sat next to Present Mic and said in a low voice.
Almost the instant Shota Aizawa finished speaking,
Shoto Todoroki had already activated his Quirk, freezing the feet of all the students near him to the ground, and dashed out at an extremely fast speed.
"I won't make the same mistake twice after what happened with Pet Shop!"
What Shoto Todoroki didn't expect was that the first person to avoid his attack and catch up was none other than Momo Yaoyorozu!
"Hahaha! I've seen that move many times too!"
Yoarashi Inasa also flew, using a whirlwind as his propulsion engine to charge out of the crowd.
"Recommendation students are indeed the toughest to deal with. Speaking of which, why hasn't that guy caught up yet?"
Shoto Todoroki subconsciously looked behind him.
In the frozen, congested crowd, Katsuki Bakugo, Tokoyami, Mashirao Ojiro, and others were a step slower, but they too had avoided his ice and charged out.
But there was still no sign of Arthur.
Midnight never said you had to place in the top few to pass the first round.
So everyone went all out, trying to get as high a rank as possible.
Because Arthur was standing so far back, Todoroki's ice never reached him.
But still, a ton of people up front got their feet frozen to the ground, turning the path into a total bottleneck.
Which meant the farther back you started, the harder it was to move.
"Regretting it now, Class A's vice rep?" Midnight smirked.
Arthur glanced at her.
Her smile disappeared instantly.
The spot where Arthur had been standing was empty.
What the hell?
She hadn't even blinked. How did he just vanish?
"AHHH!"
A scream echoed from the track ahead.
Midnight spun around, stunned.
Dozens of students were flying through the air, knocking others down like dominoes.
And Arthur was casually stepping on their backs, moving forward slowly.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Present Mic grabbed his microphone, shouting in disbelief. "A huge group of students at the back all went down at once, causing a major pileup! But hey, it's giving some people a chance to pass though stepping on others to get ahead is pretty brutal!"
Midnight's eyes were still wide.
She'd been watching from the back the whole time. Those students definitely didn't just trip.
Falling doesn't send people flying like that.
Someone had used their Quirk to attack. That broke the rules.
And there was only one person they could suspect.
But what kind of Quirk was it?
All Might, still in his skinny form, rubbed his chin and muttered, "What kind of power is that… Young Arthur?"
Arthur kept walking on people's backs, already passing more than half the participants.
"If nobody sees it, it's not cheating," he said to himself with a small smile.
"If nobody sees it, huh?"
A gloomy voice came from beside him.
Arthur looked over. Some blue-haired guy with seaweed hair and a seriously dark vibe was staring at him. The kind of energy that made you think of villains like Shigaraki.
"So that move was yours, right? That's messed up. You sent a bunch of people flying and broke the rules, didn't you?"
Arthur turned and kept walking. No point wasting words.
The seaweed-haired guy frowned hard.
Had Arthur figured out his Quirk? Or was he just like that?
Stepping over bodies, Arthur made it out of the narrow part of the track. He spotted Ochaco, Midoriya, and other Class A students running near the back. Either their Quirks weren't great for running, or they were too scared to use them.
Up ahead, about a mile past Arthur, Mineta had tried to ambush Todoroki but got punched aside by an iron fist, rolling across the ground.
"Target… locked."
A harsh mechanical voice came from above.
Todoroki looked up. Combat robots with dark green bodies and red camera eyes stared down at him, ready to stomp.
"I'm passing you, Todoroki!"
Yoarashi swept past on a whirlwind.
Present Mic yelled, "OHHH! First place just changed! Inasa Yoarashi rushed ahead while Todoroki was stuck!"
Having first place stolen made Todoroki's expression go even colder. He waved his hand, freezing all the robots in his way, then shot forward. "I hope you've got better obstacles than this. My useless old man is watching."
Others tried to rush past while the robots were frozen, but the moment Todoroki passed, the frozen robots' legs shattered and they collapsed. More robots started swarming toward the students on the track.
"Move! Out of the way, you whirlwind bastard! You half-and-half bastard!"
"My tail can easily dodge these!"
"Dark Shadow!"
Bakugo, Ojiro, and Tokoyami vaulted over the robots with crazy jumps, closing in on Yoarashi and Todoroki up ahead.
Most of the others, including some Class A students, got blocked further back. Even Yaoyorozu was stuck.
"Are these the same robots general ed students faced in the entrance exam?" Yaoyorozu frowned, thinking. "I'm not great against this type. I'll make a jammer."
Just as she was about to act, a familiar tall figure walked past her.
"Arthur?"
He stopped two meters in front of her. Arthur, who started at the very back, had already strolled all the way here.
"Need a hand?" His tone was teasing.
"No. In this Sports Festival, I'm relying on my own strength. Even if my opponent is you, I won't hold back." Yaoyorozu smiled and turned down his "kindness."
"Target locked!"
Three robots swung their fists at them.
"Ahh!" Ochaco yelped and hid behind Yaoyorozu.
"I don't even need a Stand for this."
Arthur reached out his right hand, palm against the robot's incoming fist. With a twist, he bent the steel arm into a mangled mess.
BOOM!!!!
He slammed it down like a basketball.
The robot, the size of an African elephant, crashed to the ground.
...
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