I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters. Any OC or idea you like are free for use, all I ask is that you send me a link to the story if you are writing one.

Chapter 7

The next day was supposed to be normal with the students mainly focusing on their training for the sports festival. However, from the start it didn't look good, Shino was late -by late it means he would arrive about ten minutes before homeroom- because one of his brothers, Yaso, had the bright idea to play video games until the 2AM. It took Shino a while to wake him up, give him a lecture, and take away his console for a week.

When Shino finally arrived to the classroom, he found a big group of students standing in front of the door shouting and protesting 'I smell Bakugo in this.' He thought as he squeezed his way through the crowd and found himself standing next to a boy with wild purple hair and a tired expression that could rival Aizawa's and in front of him was an angry Iida and a concerned Midoriya and Uraraka.

"Okay can anyone explain why there is an angry mob in front of our classroom?" Shino didn't have the best start to his day, he didn't even get to drink his morning coffee and was having a headache from the constant shouting behind him.

"Oh! Good morning Shino." The President of class 1-A greeted. "Well you see, these students came here to see our class after hearing about the USJ incident. But then Bakugo insulted them, calling them extras and that they don't matter." Said blonde growled from his seat at the mention of his name. "And then this guy-" Iida was cut off by the purple-haired boy, "The name is Shinso, it's pretty rude to call a person you just met this guy." Iida was taken aback before resuming, "My apologies, Shinso here declared war on our class."

"The sports festival is not just a chance for you guys in the hero department to show off, it's also a chance for us of the other departments to be transferred to the hero course if we do well enough. So watch out class 1-A." Shinso threatened the class.

All Shino could do was raise an eyebrow in response 'That's a rule here?! Wow the sports festival is more important than I thought!'

Shino didn't dwell on that thought for long, he had a job to do. "Well let's address the first issue concerning Bakugo's behavior okay." Shino stood in front of the crowd of students and bowed his head which took everybody including his own classmates by surprise, "As the vice-president of class 1-A, I apologize for my classmate's disrespectable behavior. Know that it does not reflect the rest of the class in any way and only reflects his own opinions." The students didn't know how to respond to the boy's apology and he didn't give them time to. "As for your declaration of war." Shino turned to Shinso, "If you plan on trying to take our seats then you better bring you're A-game because we will fight to prove we deserve those seats. So I say bring it on."

To say Shinso and the students were surprised by the golden-haired boy's attitude would be an understatement, he didn't show any sign of worry or ill-intent. "Now that this is over, can all of you please move away from the entrance and return to your classes. Homeroom is about to start." Remembering that they still had to go to class, the crowd and Shinso hurried to their own classes.

Not missing a beat, Shino went to the source of his headache, Bakugo.

"And you." Bakugo looked at him with his usual angry stare that Shino got used to by now.

"The fuck do you want?"

Shino rubbed the temples of his nose; he was too coffee-deprived to deal with Bakugo's superiority complex right now, "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do okay. And I don't care either; just don't drag us with you." Shino warned but only got a tsk in response as the explosion boy turned his head to the window.

Shino couldn't help but think 'This is too early in the morning for this shit.' As he went to his desk and buried his face in it and waited for either death or Aizawa to come. Fortunately, the latter came first.

The rest of the day went relatively normal for Shino with the only important thing is sharing his food with Kendo like they agreed to while they talked about her cooking plunders, what happened in the morning, and their preparations for the festival, which lifted Shino's mood. And once again, both of them didn't notice the figure hiding and watching them. The day ended with Shino returning home and starting his training for the festival. This continued for the two weeks until the festival minus the coffee deprivation and angry students at the class door.

When the day of the festival finally arrived, Shino was more than excited. He had watched some videos of the previous festivals to understand it more and needless to say, he was impressed by the scale of the event. But it was a different thing to watch it on a screen than to actually witness it first-hand. The stadium was huge and even the areas around it were buzzing with life and sound as stalls were everywhere taking advantage of the huge crowds to sell their merchandise. Shino liked the festive feel the event had, he wished his family could be here to see it but since they couldn't he decided to buy them souvenirs after the events.

Class 1-A were all in the waiting room mentally preparing themselves for their first appearance, they all wore the P.E. uniforms since other classes outside of the hero course obviously didn't have hero costumes, Shino had worn a long sleeved shirt under his uniform like he always did, Iida came and announced it was time. As everybody was getting up, Todoroki approached Midoriya with his usual serious stoic expression.

"Hey Midoriya, can I say something?"

"Uh s-sure Todoroki." The taller boy targeting him out of nowhere took Midoriya aback.

"Objectively speaking, I'm clearly stronger than you." The dual-haired boy stated.

"R-right." Midoriya's already low confidence took a hit.

"However, you have All-Might on your side." This caught Shino's attention, 'Does he know about Midoriya and All-Might's connection too?'

"I won't ask what's happening between you two," Shino relaxed at this, "But know that I will defeat you."

Midoriya was left stunned by Todoroki's declaration of war.

"What's with the declarations of war lately?" Kaminari asked.

"Yeah Todoroki, take it easy will you." Kirishima approached the two boys trying to ease the tension.

"You people don't get it; we're not here to make friends. This is not a team effort." Todoroki pushed Kirishima's arm aside and turned to leave but stopped when Midoriya called out for him.

"I don't know what's on your head or why you think you need to defeat me, and you're definitely stronger than me. In fact, you're probably the student with the most potential out of the entire hero course, everybody is coming at us with everything they have. I will give this everything I have and I will aim of the top too." Midoriya had a determined look on his face.

Todoroki looked like he didn't expect this as a response "Fine."

"Are you all done?" Shino spoke catching everybody's attention, "Does anybody have any other declarations of war or otherwise to make before go out there?" He was met with silence, "Finally, this the first festival I personally see and you people are ruining it. This is a competition not a fight to the death, chill out."

Shino's complete lack of concern surprised some of the students.

"Aren't you a little worried? I mean, what Deku said was true. Everybody is gonna focus on us." Uraraka asked.

"Let them come. As long as I'm doing my best, everything will be fine. Besides, actions speak louder than words. That's how I live my life." Shino answered with a smile.

"I wish we had your level of confidence Shino." Said Yaoyorozu.

"At any rate," Iida finally spoke, "Let's get out there they are waiting for us."

The students finally came out of their designated exit and were met with thousands of people cheering for them as Present Mic introduced each class as they came out along with a very irritated Aizawa that looked like would rather be anywhere else.

After all the classes lined up in their places, the judge of the competition came out with a big billboard behind her. The R-rated hero Midnight, wasted no time in taking a seductive pose with her whip that definitely was not appropriate in front of young teenagers.

'Seriously? Why her out of all teachers?' Shino was a little bit annoyed by the hero but the crowd and some of his classmates seemed to enjoy it.

On class 1-B's side, Kendo shook her head at the stupid faces some of the boys in her class were making while staring at Midnight. Her gaze switched to class 1-A and sighed in relief when she saw Shino's uninterested almost-annoyed expression before she caught herself. 'Why was I relieved just now? Why did I look at him in the first place? It's not like I care what he thinks, right?' Kendo knew the answer and it turned her face crimson with embarrassment.

Throughout the two weeks leading to the festival, Kendo had been training her cooking skill along with her fighting skills. She had reached a point where she didn't need Shino's guidance anymore but she had been enjoying the time she spent with him however short it may be, they even promised to meet at the finals of the festival, and so decided to keep it a secret.

"First of all, the introductory speech by the representative of the first year students, Katsuki Bakugo." Shino face-palmed 'this is not gonna end well.' For the first time, Shino regretted that one point that came between him and the explosion boy.

The ash-blond approached the microphone and with a straight face pledged "I pledge to….win and be number one."

The outrage of the students of the other classes was to be expected. What wasn't expected was Shino jumping on the platform and starting a fight with Bakugo.

"THE HELL BAKUGO?! I TOLD YOU NOT TO INSTIGATE PEOPLE!" Shino grabbed Bakugo by the collar.

"WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU? IF YOU'RE SCARRED JUST QUIT, THIS IS NO PLACE FOR A COWARD." Bakugo yelled back as he too grabbed Shino by the collar.

"I'M NO COWARD, BUT I DON'T WANT PEOPLE STARRING DAGGERS INTO ME BECAUSE OF YOUR SHIT."

"SILANCE!" Midnight's yell and the crack from her whip stopped the fight between the two blonds.

"You two return to your class immediately." Bakugo returned but Shino went for the microphone.

"Before I return let me say this, as the vice-president of class 1-A and the one that scored second after Bakugo, I apologize for his rude behavior and I wish all of you good luck and do your best."

Shino's statement caught many students by surprise. When he came down from the platform, his classmates were waiting for him.

"You scored second in the exam!" Uraraka was surprised and excited.

"Yeah I was behind Bakugo by one point that I regret now since it could have saved us from all of this." Shino shook his head.

"That's so manly! I scored third you know." Kirishima exclaimed.

"I know, and Uraraka scored 4th, Iida scored 7th, Midoriya scored 8th, and Tokoyami scored 10th. I looked at the top ten and memorized their names since they would be my classmates."

"But why does Bakugo have to be a jerk like this, he didn't need to instigate people?" Kirishima wondered.

"It's because he wants them to focus on him."

"What do you mean?" the class was confused by Shino's statement.

"He wants to prove that he is the strongest so he instigates them to make them come at him full force so can defeat them at their strongest."

Bakugo was now staring at Shino and the latter could feel it but decided to ignore it for now.

"Are you sure about that? Sounds like a risky strategy." Yaoyorozu asked.

"We're talking about Bakugo here; risk kinda runs in his blood."

"Now let's decide what the first competition these younglings would be in." Everyone's attention returned to Midnight as she started the machine and it started spinning until stopping on the obstacle race.

"And the obstacle race it is! The competitors will race on the track around the stadium while various obstacles will be thrown their way, everything is allowed as long as you don't exit the track. Now all competitors go to the designated gate and get ready to start."

The students all rushed to the gate to secure a good position. However, as Shino looked at the size of the gate he noticed that there is no way the gate was gonna allow all these students to go at once. Flashbacks of what happened when the school alarm went off played in his mind and he prepared himself. 'Not this time.'

As Shino expected, as soon as the sign signaled the start of the race, all the students rushed through the gate at once and were stuck. But not him, he had waited for everybody to go first then brought out his hovering board and just floated above the crowd being the first to exit the gate. Seconds after Shino got out; he looked behind him to find the ground freezing along with some of the students' feet and Todoroki hot on his trail. Not wanting to give up the first spot just yet, Shino increased his speed to put some distance between him and the icemaker.

Other students like Bakugo, Yaoyorozu, and Kirishima followed the two students at the lead and soon enough, the students reached the first obstacle, the robots from the entrance exam, along with three zero-pointers stood in front of the competitors ready to attack.

While the other students stopped for a moment to take a fighting position, Shino simply maneuvered between the robots dodging a punch from one of the zero-pointers and going under it escaping the fight all together. "Sorry guys, but I have a race to win." As soon as he said that, the zero-pointer was suddenly frozen in ice as Todoroki passed through and again followed Shino. "Come on, give me a break." Shino was speeding again, trying to hold his first position while dodging attacks from an advancing Todoroki as the giant robot he froze fell to the ground blocking the path for the rest of the competitors.

Not long after, Bakugo too caught up with them by using his explosions to float above the wreckage and joined Todoroki in attacking Shino who kept on dodging the series of ice towers and explosions thrown his way. He was saved however when they arrived at the second obstacle, a giant pit that looked like it had no bottom with only a few pillars sticking out and ropes between them that people could use to get across. The two boys at second place had to stop their assault to focus on getting across. Shino on the other hand, didn't find any problems with the obstacle since he had a freaking hover board, he just had to not look down.

Despite needing to focus on getting across, Bakugo somehow found a way to attack Todoroki, breaking the ice bridge he created while still using his blasts to go across.

With Todoroki in third place, Bakugo focused all his attention on catching up with Shino and blasting him to kingdom come. Unfortunately, just when he reached Shino an ice attack came at him as Todoroki approached with a steady pace. The two heroes-in-training clashed once again, each one of them trying to get rid of the other fast so they could focus on the first placeholder.

Speaking of the first placeholder, Shino reached the last obstacle and stopped for a moment, it was a minefield, 'What the hell is this school doing? Giant robots, giant bottomless pits, and now a minefield. Are they trying to kill us or something? Thank god I have my hover board.' That's when he heard explosions getting closer and the air started to get colder. "Well I gotta move now if I want to win this." He hopped on the hover board and made sure he was floating high enough to not trigger the mines.

Dodging the mines would have been easy if Shino didn't have to also dodge the assault of both Bakugo and Todoroki who caught up to him pretty fast and threatened to miss up his balance throwing him to the mines. As they started to gain on him, a huge explosion sounded from the distance as a metallic plate came flying at the two. The plate had one Midoriya on it as he used the explosion to propel himself to second place besides Bakugo and Todoroki.

The two second-place holders didn't appreciate the new competition and moved to get rid of Midoriya as the momentum he gained from the explosion started to go away. Thinking fast, Midoriya used the plate he rode, flipping it and hitting the mines at just the right angle to knock his pursuers back and give himself another boost as he now was running next to Shino in first place.

"Thanks Midoriya, these have been a pain in my ass since the start of this race. But unfortunately, only one can take the first place and it's me." Shino extended a golden pole and threw it in front of Midoriya triggering some mines and forcing Midoriya to dodge while Shino sped to enter the narrow gateway and emerge on the other side taking the first place.

Midoriya came second and followed by him were Todoroki in third place and Bakugo in fourth place. After a while, the rest of the competitors started appearing one after the other.

"YEAH! Number one! That me!" Shino celebrated his first win in the festival by doing some tricks with the hovering board, which seemed to excite the audience.

Back at the orphanage, Mother and the children were cheering for their big brother throughout the race and when it was announced that he got first place, the children screamed so hard some of the neighboring buildings started complaining.

"Good job Shino." Midoriya came to congratulate his friend on winning.

"Thanks Midoriya! You were awesome with the whole explosion thing too; you didn't even use your quirk and landed at second place. It took me by surprise and saved me from Bakugo and Todoroki's attacks. Without you, they would have probably caught up with me." Shino extended a hand.

"It wasn't my intention but glad I helped. Don't expect it again though; I'm here to win too." Midoriya shook Shino's hand although he was blushing from the compliment.

"Won't have any other way, let's both do our best and show the world what we're made of."

While the two teens were in high spirts from their recent victory, Bakugo and Todoroki stared at them with competitive anger silently vowing to even the score.

After all the students reached the finish line, Midnight announced that the results of the race would now be shown on the board.

"Only the top forty-two students will advance to the next competition." The ranking showed where everyone stood and Shino was more than happy to see that Kendo managed to make the cut.

"Now it time to choose the next competition and the next chance for all of you who advanced to really show your stuff." The same screen from before appeared as it rotated fast with all eyes fixed on it.

The screen finally stopped announcing the next competition would be the cavalry battle.

"And the next competition is the cavalry battle. The rules are simple, the forty-two competitors will spilt into groups of between two and four and each group will be given a headband with a specific number of points on it. The goal is grab the headbands of the other teams to collect points and the top four teams with the highest points will advance to the final competition. As to how the points will be spread, it will depend on your place in the race; the points are divided as multiples of five. And the points assigned to the first place is TEN MILLION."

Shino's jaw dropped and could instantly feel everybody glaring at him with predatory eyes sending shivers down his spine, 'Well, I'm screwed. That's what I get for showing off.'

Thank you for reading.