Two weeks earlier...
A giant swarm of students stands in front of the door for Class 1-A. Little whispers of conversation occasionally burst out across the crowd, but they are quickly silenced by those towards the front of the crowd. It has only been a eight days since the start of the school year, but in that short time, various leaders have stepped forward in the various classes. Right now, the amazing amount of respect that they've garnered in such a short amount of time is keeping this...gathering from turning into a genuine riot. Not class presidents, class leaders. The type of people that have a sort of gravity that pulls the entire class towards them, the glue that holds everyone together.
Right now, Hitoshi can immediately identify two based on the whispers of conversations he's heard in the cafeteria. Hatsume Mei of Class 1-H, support department. Kendou Itsuka of Class 1-B, hero department. He has a feeling the two of them are only there to keep a tight leash on their fellow classmates, rather than to declare war on Class 1-A. Kendou is gripping the shoulder of some blond guy rather tightly, and all the gadgets strapped onto Hatsume's back give him the impression that her methods would be a touch more nefarious than whatever this is.
Hitoshi has always avoided the leader type throughout his school career. The type that everyone couldn't help but like, who had some sort of positive relationship with everyone in the classroom. The type that would make the effort to get him at least a little involved in the class. He'd like to say that he appreciated their efforts, but he saw that wobbly smile that they had, the way that they would try to get his phone number only through passed notes, and never by just asking. They must have thought he was stupid or something, to expect him not to notice.
Yuuei is nothing like any of the other schools he's been to. Sure, there might be some bitterness and condescension between classes, but within his own class, Class 1-C? There is a certain level of mutual respect. Hitoshi walked in on the first day expecting a bunch of sad scraps that hadn't gotten into the heroics department, but he had come to learn that that wasn't what the general department was. They are teenagers from all different walks of life, who have done something to deserve to get into the classroom, for reasons other than just becoming a hero. They are all recognized by Yuuei for something. Thus, they recognize each other for the ability to have clawed their way into the General Education department of the prestigious Yuuei.
The class dynamic of Class 1-C is surprisingly functional, considering that a fifth of its members are a bunch of bitter hero rejects. Hitoshi himself was so close to shutting himself off from the rest of his classmates so that he could silently and independently work to become a hero, but then she walked in.
If Kendou Itsuka and Hatsume Mei had a gravity to them, then Uraraka Ochako was a goddamn blackhole, moreso than their homeroom teacher. Just moments after Hitoshi introduced himself with a, "Hello, I'm Shinsou Hitoshi and I'm going to transfer to class 1-A, so don't bother with getting to know me," Uraraka slammed his request into the ground. The girl just walked up to him with a bright smile, and had the nerve to ask to work together to become heroes with him. Naturally he said no, but her frequent pestering over the next three days made him give in. The worst part is he can't even act like an unapproachable asshole to Uraraka, because some part of him really wants to try having a friend. Working with her actually has its benefits too, because Uraraka managed to convince one of the faculty to train the two of them, which he couldn't manage with his complete lack of charisma.
It isn't just him that gravitates towards her, either, though their common goal has made her stick to his side like a starfish. She has the entirety of Class 1-C in her palm. For once in his lifetime, Hitoshi is thinking that maybe not all class leaders are snakes who'll act nice to his face and call him a snake whenever he turns his back. Uraraka is proof of that.
He's actually really glad that Uraraka decided to approach him as an ally rather than an enemy. Because right now, the two of them are standing in front of the door of their common rival, and the look on her face is downright terrifying. It's this strange blend of determination, confidence and...bitterness? Hitoshi didn't peg her for the type, and he really doesn't think that it's for the same reason as him. Maybe he'll ask her later.
As the door to Class 1-A swings open, Hitoshi thinks to himself, If you think that the General Education department is a pebble on the side of the road, then you have a big surprise coming at you.
Izuku knocks on the door in front of him, trying his best to wave when Fumiko opens the door to let him in. He barely manages the action, given that he has his laptop wedged between his right arm and his body. The other arm isn't an option either, because it's holding a giant, All Might plush ball.
Years of experience tell him that when you're settling down to watch the Yuuei Sports Festival, then you want to be as damn comfy as possible. A full day of watching adrenaline-packed activities can take its toll on a person, and Izuku expects it to be worse than usual, given that he's keeping an eye out for specific people this time. It's for this same reason that he drapes his softest blanket around his shoulders and wears the fuzziest pajamas he has on hand, with absolutely zero shame.
"You can just go to the living room, I think the Sports Festival starts in ten minutes," Fumiko says, walking towards the kitchen. Izuku does as she says, and upon entering the living room, sees Daichi splayed across the smaller couch. Daichi raises the bottle of apple cider in his hands, and takes a sip from it.
Izuku is about to voice his greetings, but quickly becomes horrified by what must be the biggest bowl of chips he's ever seen in his life. Clearly it shows, because Daichi is soon laughing at him, "That'll be lasting us throughout the day, unless you've somehow got even more of an appetite than our girl." Izuku...strongly doubts that he does. His mom always tells him he eats like a bird. "C'mon, sit down."
He looks around the room for a seat, and immediately makes his decision. There's no way that he can see the purple beanbag to the left of the room and not sit in it. Hopefully, he doesn't look to eager when he wiggles over and plops his butt down onto the bean bag.
Fumiko walks in with some glasses of water. He mumbles a quick thanks, flipping open his laptop in front of him and settling in.
He still hasn't figured out a decent organization system for the sheer amount of notes he has to work with, but he at least starts up a new document for the Sports Festival.
"Do you usually watch the first years?" Fumiko asks.
Izuku shakes his head, his focus still on his laptop, "Not usually. I like to watch the third years, their skills are the most developed, and the challenges are more difficult, so it's interesting to watch. Plus, the preliminary notes I take on them help a lot for when they start their pro-hero careers in the next year. I like to predict whether they'll get stuck as sidekicks or build their own career."
"Oh my, sorry you're stuck watching the first years with us."
Izuku looks up from the laptop and shakes his head vehemently, "No, no, no! The first years are also great to watch too, they're probably my second favorite year to watch. No offense intended to the second years. I was already planning on watching the first year Sports Festival this year, what with the USJ. Though, there are a few that I really have an eye out for in Class 3-A but there's always recordings to look at later..." Izuku jerked his head up, realizing that he was starting to get into his classic muttering position. "Sorry!"
Daichi huffs, "Again, no need to apologize. We like hearing what you have to say." Izuku's heart nearly stops at that. Neither of them have worded it that way before. It was one thing for them to tolerate his words, but it was a completely different thing for them to actually care about what those words were. Even his mom had trouble keeping up with him sometimes, but he just couldn't stop the words from spilling out of his mouth.
"It's started!" Izuku yelps at the voice of Present Mic blaring out loudly even across a television. "Wow, they must really be taking advantage of the publicity from the USJ incident if they have Present Mic announcing for the first years. He usually only announces for the third years, because he's the best at it."
He can't stop himself from bouncing in the seat when Class 1-A walks out. The moment he sees Kacchan clearly on the television, he scrambles up to the screen and points at him. "Him!" He says oh so eloquently.
"He looks like an angry delinquent with the way he's standing." Daichi comments.
Izuku laughs nervously and gives a little nod. "Angry, yeah, but he's not a delinquent. He works very hard to maintain a spotless academic record."
The other classes walk onto the stage, and Izuku gets the faintest glimpse of a brown bob in the sea of students. "Go Ochako!" The two Urarakas yell in unison at the screen. Izuku would like to say he joins them, but he barely even realizes it's her by the time they finish speaking. He frowns a little.
"Oh!" Fumiko exclaims, "I can't see him here, but look out for Shinsou too. He's Ochako's friend, I think he's got purple hair sort of like..." She vaguely gestures with her hands, indicating hair that...sticks out? Izuku can't really imagine it, but he nods as if he can.
Apparently the referee this time around is Midnight. Apparently Izuku missed a few things, because holy hell that's Kacchan walking towards the stage what is he doing oh my god. Realization strikes him, as he whispers, "Oh no, he's the class representative." He should have figured, Kacchan definitely didn't make the fact that he placed first in the entrance exam go unknown after he got accepted to Yuuei.
Kacchan stops dramatically on the stage, looking down at the mic. Izuku's breath is trapped in his chest. "I pledge," Kacchan pauses for a moment, eyes narrowed at the audience, as if drilling his words into every person watching, "That I'll be number one." Kacchan turns to respond to some of the indignant cries of the students behind him, but Izuku isn't paying attention.
He's too busy trying to smother the giggles that are leaving him. Goddamnit, no, don't laugh, he chides himself, but the efforts are fruitless.
"Oh my god," he wheezes, "That's the most Kacchan thing th-that," he bursts into more giggles, trying to catch his breath, "he could ever say. Everybody's going to hate him!" It's true, everyone will hate him, but Izuku knows that Kacchan's speech had a very specific intention that was kind of close to getting everyone to hate him.
It screamed, "Come at me with your all, so that I can show that I'm above you, even if you try your hardest."
Izuku is busy mildly losing his shit, so he almost misses the description of first challenge. It's an obstacle race, which seems normal enough, except it's Yuuei. There's no way that the event will be normal in any way whatsoever.
This becomes clear when an enormous amount of students fight to even start the race, all trapped by the massive number of people stuck at the race's entrance. It could be a result of bad design, but it's more likely that the first obstacle is...this. The primary contenders quickly make themselves known, as ice bursts out of the entrance of the race in a terrifying spout that rapidly freezes the entire wall. The source is obvious, as one boy runs in front of the masses of students frozen to the ground, sheets of ice spreading by his feet. There's a brief close-up view of the boy's face. His red and white hair looks like split down the middle almost perfectly, and his ice blue eyes are...chilling. The same shade as Endeavor, Izuku thinks, as he looks into those dispassionate eyes. Izuku somehow manages to catch Present Mic calling him "Todoroki Shouto from Class 1-A", despite how little he's paying attention to the commentating.
It's not just Todoroki that pushes his way to the front, of course. Several students leap out of the way, or use their quirks to combat the ice that heads towards them. Kacchan is naturally amongst the fray.
What follows is absolute overkill, even for Yuuei. Izuku has heard enough from Yuuei students who talked to much to the media to know that Yuuei loves robots. Robots for their entrance exams, robots for their finals...It's not the funding that's the problem, but as far as Izuku knows, they've never used them in the Yuuei Sports Festival. Despite the daunting task placed in front of him, Todoroki freezes the robots with an almost graceful ease. It's beyond impressive, but quickly becomes terrifying as those robots come crashing down. He sees two students trapped under a robot, and his breath is caught in his chest for a frightful few seconds. To his extreme relief, the two come bursting out in a sturdy glory.
When he sees the tightrope canyon and the minefields that follow, Izuku is sure that this has to be the most dangerous first event that he's seen in all the Sports Festivals he's watched. And he's seen more Sports Festivals than just the ones broadcasted during his lifetime. Usually the first event is the safest one, given that there are a lot of students who either aren't trained or aren't willing to take on giant robots and goddamn minefields. The obstacle course is a common first event, because it's great for weeding out a lot of competitors, but this has to be the most badass one Izuku has seen as of yet. Is Yuuei trying to prove a point?
Despite the difficulty of the course, several students hold a strong lead. Far in the front, though, are Todoroki and Kacchan, both wielding their quirks with a finesse that only comes from years and years of experience and practice (although Kacchan's mostly came at the expense of Izuku).
Except, wait. The stage is not owned by just those two because...Holy shit, there's two people flying through the sky on a sheet of metal.
"Ochako!" Fumiko's voice is high and alarmed. And it is Uraraka, right alongside...Purple hair, tired eyes, bored expression, looks a bit like a mad scientist. Is this the Shinsou that was mentioned?
"Should that even be possible?" Izuku considers, "Maybe they propelled themselves with an explosion from the land mines? I would do that..."
"God, no, that wasn't it," Fumiko laughs, almost hysterical. Izuku supposes that watching your child catapult themselves through the sky would cause a considerable amount stress for any decent parent. He wonders why Daichi isn't saying anything, turning to look at him.
Daichi is just deep in thought, fingers tapping the side of his chin. "They'll pull it off."
Oh god, now they're hurtling towards the ground at a terrifying speed, at a steep slope that's almost vertical. Izuku winces, covering his vision with his fingers. He doesn't want to miss the end of the event though, so he curiously looks through his fingers.
Miraculously, the two that rocket towards the top ten don't go splat on the floor. Before it hits the ground, the metal jerks to a stop multiple times. It's definitely the use of a quirk, Izuku can figure out that much. He's just not sure whether the quirk belongs to Uraraka or Shinsou, or what that quirk exactly is. They land safely though, right in front of the exit of the race.
"How'd they even get that into the air, if it wasn't the mines?" Izuku asks, not really expecting an answer.
Daichi shrugs, "That Shinsou kid kicked it."
Izuku looks at Daichi incredulously, "Shinsou...kicked it?" Daichi doesn't elaborate though, and Izuku turns back to the television with a huff. He's almost starting to regret asking Daichi and Fumiko to not tell him about anyone's quirks.
Maybe that Shinsou dude is just...really buff? A strength enhancement quirk, perhaps? It doesn't explain their landing, though, so maybe that success can be attributed to Uraraka. Izuku has a feeling that he's looking at this in the wrong way. He usually never guesses right without sufficient information, but that should be changing soon.
It's the last few moments of the race, and the camera is now focusing on the exit arena of the course. Izuku eagerly waits to see which place Shinsou and Uraraka will get, especially since they landed not moments after Kacchan and Todoroki entered the final tunnel.
Todoroki is the first to come out, just the slightest bit ahead of Kacchan. Uraraka and Shinsou aren't coming out, though. One person, two, three, all the way to fourteen. Except. Wait, there they are. Number fifteen, Uraraka Ochako, and number sixteen, Shinsou Hitoshi, jogging forwards lightly. They both slow down to a stop, barely in the vision of the camera. Uraraka throws the crowd a peace sign, and Shinsou just tucks his thumbs into his pockets and gives Uraraka a crooked grin.
The three watching the Sports Festival are going wild with cheers. The event finishes as forty two people pass through the entrance, and Izuku's own cheers are replaced with a giant grin on his face.
He's a little disappointed when they announce what the second event is going to be. A cavalry battle? Maybe being extra in one event meant they couldn't be as extra in the others. Nevertheless, he's sure it'll be awesome, given that it's Yuuei. When they announce that first place is going to have the weight of million points on their head, Izuku briefly feels bad for Todoroki. It's all in the spirit of entertainment, though. Good old Yuuei extremity.
Thankfully, they're replaying clips from the obstacle race while teams are being made for the cavalry battle. Izuku can't imagine what watching live events would be like in the pre-quirk era, before so many versatile quirks related to vision and broadcasting were available. Izuku knows that Yuuei's own broadcast setup usually consists of the combined work of Pro Heroes Panopticon and Torrent. Panopticon has never made a public appearance as of yet, due to the nature of their missions, but they are known for their impressive undercover skills. Their quirk supposedly gives them the ability to exude spores that can keep track of sensory information within a certain range. The combination of Panopticon's sensory spore quirk and Torrent's memory downloading and uploading quirk results in the excellent footage that Yuuei sends to most major broadcasting networks.
Izuku really wants to know how on earth Uraraka and Shinsou managed to get that themselves up into the air like that, and he has no doubts that their stunt will be among the footage shown. He still has his doubts about Shinsou launching the two of them into the air with a kick. The clip plays, finally. The two of them are right by the minefields, and Uraraka goes from talking to Shinsou to setting a piece of metal in her hands on the ground, touching it with her hands. She then sits down on the metal, leaving room on it. And Shinsou just. Kicks it. It launches into the air, but not before Shinsou quickly leaps onto the metal. The metal doesn't even change trajectory, it just keeps on going like all other forces on the object have been nullified. Maybe...? It's the slightest speculation, but Uraraka deliberately placing her fingers on the metal has to mean something.
If it's what he thinks it is, then Uraraka has the very strong advantage of others not knowing what her quirk is, nor what its activation conditions are. Most of the nation might have the chance to see the footage being played, but the people participating in the Sports Festival likely don't. "Is it five fingers for her to activate her quirk, or both hands?" Izuku asks, looking to Uraraka's parents. He still hasn't figured out the nature of her quirk, but he thinks he has the activation conditions down.
Fumiko holds up her hands, revealing little pads on the tips of her fingers. "Five fingers, she gets it from me. I won't tell you what her quirk does, but mine can cancel the magnetic field of objects. If I touch the fridge with all five fingers, our fridge magnets fall off of it, it's a bit of a pain."
"Is that why you always have those gloves on when you use the phone? The ones that only covers your thumbs?" Izuku asks. Izuku had noticed her using the gloves a few times, but he never really commented on it.
"Ah, I used to destroy so many phones as a kid. Not useful for much, either."
"Looks like the Cavalry Battle is starting." Daichi says, and Izuku's attention is once again caught by the television. The television is showing an aerial view of all of the competitors, in their cavalry formations. Izuku could spot Uraraka and Shinsou standing at the base of her team's cavalry formation, along with Shinsou. The two seem to be teamed up with a pink-haired girl with goggles and a ton of gadgets, as well as a boy with spiky black hair and a white and blue headband across his forehead. The black-haired boy sits on top of their formation,
Present Mic's voice fills the living room, "And here you have it!" A list of the teams appeared on the screen. Team Bakugou, Team Monoma, Team Todoroki, Team Asui, Team Kendou, Team Hagakure, Team Shiozaki, Team Awase, Team Rin, and Team Tsunotori.
"Which one is Uraraka's?" Izuku asks. Based on the lack of the response, none of the other two know either. There'll be room to figure it out. A running total of the different team's points displays on the television, and Izuku can at least eliminate some of the teams, "They aren't any of the bottom four teams, they have at least...275 points between them, not factoring in their other team members."
Ice immediately spikes out of the ground the very moment the cavalry battle starts, forming a dome around one of the teams. It looks like Team Todoroki is going immediately on the defensive, as they should with the bounty on their head. The dome probably isn't going to last long, judging by the number of teams that seem to be targeting Team Todoroki. Interestingly enough, Uraraka's team doesn't seem to be the same. They're towards the sides of the arena, and Shinsou is...having a conversation with the riding player of a three-person team? The girl on top of the formation ends up handing their team's headbands to him, with some struggle from the two people holding her up. The scoreboard shifts as Team Awase promptly gains 165 points, and Team Rin loses 165 points. That solves the question of which team they are.
Izuku is too interested in how Shinsou managed to get the girl to cordially hand over her headbands to pay attention to the rest of the competition. Team Awase continues to skirt around the edges of the arena, using what appears to be the powers of persuasion to get more headbands. Whatever they're doing, it's working. Despite the way they are steadily rising in the ranks of the competition, Present Mic fails to commentate on them. He can understand why, though, when there are much more interesting showdowns going on in the cavalry.
For example, there's the giant explosion that fills the arena. Izuku winces at the sound, his attention snapping back to the rest of the game.
Kacchan is clearly successful in dealing with Team Todoroki's impressive ice shield, because the ice dome shatters. They clearly didn't expect that to last the whole time, because they seem to have a second line of defense in place. The four members making up the team have earmuffs on, and in front of them is a giant disc mounted onto a stand. A girl at the base of their formation touches something on the device, and people closer to them move to shield their ears. One team even drops their rider, in their attempts to cover their ears. "What's this!" Present Mic exclaims, "Yaoyorozu from Class 1-A seems to have activated a device to create an ear-splitting sound, that one has got to hurt!" She clearly doesn't count on Kacchan's failure to react to the noise, because he launches forward, trying to snatch the headband on Todoroki's forehead. Izuku figures that the sound is at too high of a frequency for Kacchan to hear. One of his teammates tries to reel him back with tape, so that he doesn't land on the ground and disqualify the entire team. Kacchan doesn't get disqualified, but he doesn't get the headband, either.
It's probably a loss that they can afford, what with the number of headbands that the tape person, who he later learns is named Sero Hanta, has snagged. Izuku knows he's going to spend a lot of time brainstorming possible uses for that tape quirk, because it seems to be extremely versatile. Plus, tape can fix anything. Ripped your homework? Tape. Need a phone case? Tape. A cannon ball wrecked your building? Tape. Someone gave you a broken heart? Tape.
Kacchan refuses to pull away from Todoroki, even when the sound stops and the ice dome comes back up, but Sero still makes a grab at nearby team's headbands. At some point, Team Awase gets in their proximity, and Sero tries to snatch away some of the headbands that sit around Awase's neck, only to find that the headbands refuse to move. Perhaps the result of a quirk?
The Cavalry Battle ends relatively uneventfully, with Team Todoroki defending their position until the end, after having resurrected their ice dome. Kacchan looks extremely pissed, but his team comes second with the number of headbands that they managed to steal. Present Mic seems surprised when he declares that Team Awase is third, as if the team wasn't constantly moving around to get more points, subtle as they may have been. Maybe he's just playing it up for the dramatic effect. In fourth is Team Shiozaki, who Izuku recalls had an extremely strong defense, as well Shiozaki's mobile quirk, which allowed her to go for headbands from a distance.
For the second time in the day, the house is filled with cheers, as they celebrate Uraraka moving onto the final event of the Yuuei Sports Festival.
When the midday break is announced, Izuku opens his laptop up and starts to furiously type down some notes. It's mostly just preliminary notes, brief thoughts and speculations that are floating around in his head, that he'll start hammering into more solid theories and analyses when he's rewatching the event. By the time he's jotted everything down, lunch is ready, and he sits down and appreciates a meal from the Urarakas. He really needs to find a way to repay them. Maybe he can start returning the favor with his mom, when she comes back home.
They're eating around the television, forgoing their usual routine of eating around a dinner table, in case there's an update on the next event. Izuku is about to walk to the kitchen to place his dishes in the sink, when the final event is revealed. Of course, it's a tournament as it always is, but the format is always changing every year. Two on twos, single eliminations, double eliminations, round robins, and more.
This time, it looks like it's a plain old one on one single elimination tournament. Izuku bites his lips and crosses his fingers, as he waits for the tournament brackets to be posted. When it's displayed on the screen, he immediately seeks out the names that are of interest to him.
Uraraka Ochako versus Aoyama Yuuga. Bakugou Katsuki versus Tokoyami Fumikage. Shinsou Hitoshi versus Awase Yosetsu.
i couldn't finish the sports festival in one chapter, rip :\\ not too proud of this chapter, i was kinda just trying to finish it at the end (gdfi shoulda just skipped the sports festival but there are some details that i wanted to mention) bUT hopefully y'all liked it? uhhh i'll try to make next chapter more interesting, i'm just wondering how to approach it i already have the battles planned out for the most part, except for one or two that i'll have to scrap
this website is stupid and i have art included in this chapter, as well as the tournament bracket, but i can only do that on ao3. no links, either, so i can't link it to you on my tumblr. tbh you should read this there if you can so you can get the full experience. or you can check the tag "#tjof" on the tumblr account meowdiriya, if you really wanna see. i'm gonna use that tag for any extra content for this story.
the tournament bracket (in order):
shinsou hitoshi vs. awase yosetsu
hatsume mei vs. iida tenya
kaminari denki vs. shiozaki ibara
todoroki shouto vs. sero hanta
yaoyorozu momo vs. mina ashido
aoyama yuuga vs. uraraka ochako
tetsutetsu tetsutetsu vs. kirishima eijiro
tokoyami fumikage vs. bakugou katsuki