Hello everyone,

We're coming up on the U.A. Sports Festival in this chapter, setting up the characters' reasons as to why they want to become heroes. We'll see a tiny sparkle of backstory as to why Izumi is trying to become a pro-hero as well, we saw in the USJ arc - a validation of her choice into choosing this path.

Thank you to everyone reading this story, I'm so happy to see that so many people are interested and invested in this story so far. I hope to continue releasing the same quality as this story continues on.

Moon.

Chapter 9

A few days later U.A. started up classes again, and the whole class was abuzz about the news that was on last night. Everyone was discussing what happened - some were talking excitedly while others expressed concern about the next villain attack. Izumi could have cared less about the news, she was more worried about what her mother told her over the phone - she could literally pull her out of U.A. if she wished. Luckily, that was something she wouldn't do unless Izumi agreed with so she was safe for now.

The sound of a yelling Bakugo brought her back to earth. "Shut up! Be quiet, scum!"

Rather than going back to her previous thoughts, she decided that listening and conversing with her classmates would be better than dwelling on the past. The clock in the classroom showed the time being 8:24 AM, meaning that class would be starting pretty soon.

"Everyone! Morning homeroom is about to start! Stop talking and take your seats!" Iida was still the same with her exaggerated arm movements and proper poster.

"We're already in our seats, you're the only one who isn't."

Seeing that they had a point Iida angrily made his way to his seat, his body shaking and his jaw tensed. Uraraka seeing that her friend was overreacting she offered calming words.

"Don't worry about it Iida-kun."

Izumi was wondering who was going to teach homeroom today, Mr. Aizawa was heavily wounded during the USJ attack. He must be in the hospital recovering and taking a break from teaching at the moment, maybe a substitute would be coming for the time being.

"Morning."

Everyone's eyes went over to the voice that was by the door, and it was quite the surprise to see Mr. Aizawa standing there - wrapped up in bandages as if he was a mummy. They were covering his face and mouth, his arms were both in casts with both on own being held in slings.

"Mr. Aizawa, you're back too soon!"

Kaminari's face was covered in slight horror at the teacher's condition. "You're too much of a pro!"

"So you're alright, Mr. Aizawa?"

"Can you really call that 'alright'?"

As he trudged towards the podium in the front of the class, he took his position as directed the entire class.

"My well-being doesn't matter. More importantly, the fight isn't over yet."

Hearing those words from his mouth piked everyone's interest.

"Fight?"

"Don't tell me…"

"The villains again…?!"

Beady eyes showing slightly through his bandages, Aizawa gazed at the class with a serious expression. Well as serious as he could show with his face being wrapped up.

"The U.A. Sports Festival is drawing near."

A brief moment of silence covered the room before it erupted in cries of joy.

"That's a supernormal school event!"

"Wait a minute..is it okay to have a sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?"

"What if they attack us again or something…?"

The concern coming from the students were being voiced and their faces showed worry about the possibility of it happening again.

"Apparently, they think of it as U.A. showing that our crisis management system is solid as a rock by holding the event. Security will also be strengthened to five times that of the previous years. Above all, our sports festival is a huge chance - it's not an event to be canceled because of a few villains."

Izumi had seen some of the previous years' festivals, while she wasn't really much into sports at all - she always looked forward to seeing what would happen. She couldn't really even believe that she was going to be participating in The U.A. Sports Festival. It was always a huge thing, overtaking even the Olympics games - it was crazy!

"Our sports festival is one of Japan's biggest events and the whole country is crazy about it. All the top heroes will be watching to scout you and make offers for internships afterward, of course joining a famous hero agency will get you more experience and popularity.

Time is limited, if you want to go pro then the path to your future will open up with this event. Once a year - a total of three chances. No aspiring heroes can miss this event if you understand that then don't slack off on your preparations!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Homeroom is dismissed."

With that Aizawa left the classroom and the students resumed talking before their first class of the day could begin. Many expressing excitement over the thought about getting into the agency of their dreams, working with the pro heroes they look up to the most.

'Like Mr. Aizawa said, this is the chance of a lifetime for anyone who wants to be a hero. I need to step up my game if I'm gonna take any kind of offers.'

The bell rang signaling that it was lunchtime, and everyone was once again chattering up a storm about the sports festival. Kirishima's voice echoed through the air as he shouted his excitement, he seems to be a ball of unbridled energy. It seemed that the rest of the class was feeling the same as him about the matter, everyone was talking about the upcoming event.

Leaving her desk Izumi made her way over to her friends who were standing around Iida, Midoriya looked like he was frozen in place.

"Everyone's really into it." his voice seeming somewhat shocked.

"You're not? We have enrolled here to become heroes, so of course, we would get fired up!" shooting straight up from his seated position Iida was now standing in another over exaggerated pose of his.

"Iida, it's strange to see you so worked up over something like this." Izumi commented.

"Midoriya-kun, don't you feel the same?"

"Of course I do, but something's…"

From behind the trio of friends, a low gravelly female voice came out of nowhere.

"Deku-kun, Iida-kun, Izumi-san…" hearing their names being called the three turned their attention towards the voice only to see Uraraka standing in an aggressive stance. The aura around her was intense for her as her normally bright brown eyes darkened, taking a step back they voiced their concern.

"Let's do our best at the sports festival."

"U-Uraraka-san, your face...It's.."

Popping out from behind the three Mina chimed in. "What's the matter? You don't look carefree at all, even though that's what your name means."

The brunette fortified her menacing stance and thrust her fist into the air, "Everyone, I'm going to do my best!"

Everyone around the girl gave out a cheer, Iida and Mina's were more enthused compared to Izuku and Izumi's - who was taken aback by the shift in character. The girl swiftly turned to the right and shouted the same thing towards Tokoyami, Sato, Sero, and Kirishima who were just as put out as her other two friends.

"What's wrong? Your personality is all over the place."

After Uraraka calmed down from her sudden burst of aggression, the small group of friends made their way to the cafeteria to get something to eat. As the traveled to the first floor Midoriya spoke up and asked a question that was on his mind.

"Uraraka-san."

"Yes?"

"Why did you decide to come to U.A. and become a pro-hero?"

"Wow, that question came out of nowhere Midoriya. Why the sudden curiosity?" while Izumi was also wanting to hear the answer to that question, she wondered where that came from in the first place.

"Um..well…" Uraraka gave the answer they were all waiting from. And it was a bit of a surprise.

"For money?! You want to become a hero for money?"

The cheerful girl was now scratching the back of her head furiously as she revealed her reason, her eyes moving to the side to avoid everyone's gaze.

"To boil it down simply, yes...Sorry, it's such an unwholesome reason. Both Deku-kun and Iida-kun have such admirable motivations, it's embarrassing…"

"Why? How is having a goal to support your livelihood not admirable?

Midoriya also joining in with a nod and a grunt of affirmation. "Right. But it's unexpected."

"Uraraka, we're not going to judge you for your reason to becoming a hero, we just would like to know a bit more about you."

Taking a small sigh with her hands on her cheeks she started to explain herself.

"My family owns a construction company, but we haven't gotten any work at all so we're flat broke. This isn't really something to tell other people, though…" her hands were now moving around underneath her hair as she nervously began her story.

"Construction…"

"With her quirk, if she gets licensed, then it would bring costs way down right?" Izuku was piecing together some of the upsides.

"She could make any raw material float, they wouldn't need any heavy equipment."

"Guys, shush. She's trying to tell us her reason.."

"Right?! That's what I told my dad when I was little!" once again Uraraka was very animated in her gestures as the boys were listing off the positives.

"But..then he told me that he was thankful for me thinking about them, they would be much happier if I could achieve my dream. I'll definitely become a hero and make money and let my parents take it easy." her hands now gripping her skirt as she looked forward at her friends with eyes set in her goal.

Seeing that serious determined look on her face was something they haven't seen before from her. It was a bit shocked but it caused them to see that Uraraka was willing to do anything to reach her dream and help her parents. Snapping everyone out of that wonderful moment, Iida clapped with vigor before shouting in the hallway they were standing in.

"Bravo! Uraraka-kun bravo! BRAVO!"

Izumi decided to join in on the clapping as well, though a bit more toned down. "That's a wonderful reason Uraraka. It's so sweet of you to do that, you're just so kind" her voice was rising higher in pitch as she tried to control herself from crushing her friend in a hug.

Their attention was suddenly turned to a hearty laugh that was getting closer to them, a laugh that was easily recognized - it was All Might rushing in.

"Young Midoriya is here!" he pointed dramatically at the boy as everyone else stood in astonishment.

"All Might? What's the matter?"

"Lunch! Wanna eat together?" he brought up a bento wrapped a light blue cloth with a white bunny pattern on it. His hand moved up to his chest in a shy girlish gesture.

"He's like a maiden!"

"How about it?" the boy looked back at his friends to see if it was okay with them, seeing the nods he went to have his lunch with his hero.

"I'd love to."

The remaining three friends continued on their way to the cafeteria and they stood in line waiting to get their food.

"I wonder what he wanted with Deku-kun."

His hands snapping up into position, Iida joined in. "I heard that when All Might was attacked by villains during the USJ incident, he rushed out alone to help. Perhaps it's about that?"

"Oh yeah!"

"It is true that he did to that, I guess I could see why All Might would want to talk with him."

And remember was Asui-san said on the bus about his quirk being similar to All Might's? The boundless power they both have are similar too, so maybe he has taken a liking to him. He's amazing."

Uraraka nodded furiously agreeing to everything Iida had said.

"I suppose that could be true, well whatever the case is - I'm sure Midoriya is fanboying so hard right now." Izumi laughed just picturing their friend trembling with joy about having lunch with All Might.

The other two joined in the laughter as they made their way to a table and began to eat. After a while of talking about school and whatnot, Uraraka paused before staring straight at Izumi.

"So why did you want to become a hero Izumi-chan?"

Her question caused the raven-haired girl to choke on what she was eating, quickly grabbing her water - drank it in order to clear her airway.

"W-What do you mean?" her voice came out nervously.

"Awww come on, you heard why I decided to be a hero - now it's your turn to share!" her cheeks puffed out as she pouted in her seat.

"Uraraka-kun, you shouldn't pressure her into answering your question. Though I do admit, I too am curious." Iida put in his two cents about the topic.

Seeing that there was no way out of the conversation, Izumi was hoping that she could dance around the question - maybe give in some vague answers. But she was sure that their curiosity would only grow.

"W-Well, it's a pretty r-recent decision you know. Nothing that like you or Iida who had wanted to be heroes most of your lives, it was in my second year of middle school actually. There was an incident that happened while I was there and I went into some counseling and with the support of a good friend of mine - I thought about the option of becoming a hero." she really wanted to keep the story vague, Izumi didn't want to relive the whole thing again. It was in the past, nothing in the past could be changed.

"Tell us more! What happened at your middle school, if it was big I'm sure that it was on TV." Uraraka leaned in closer and closer as she rapid fired questions causing Izumi to become more and more uncomfortable.

"I don't really want to go into detail about that, it's kind personal." she resumed eating again, the tone in her voice showing that she was done with talking about it.

"Well whatever happened at your school, I'm sure that your reason is noble and just. After all, you're here in U.A. where heroes are molded to serve society!" Izumi tuned out what Iida said after that, knowing that he was going on a tirade.

'The past is in the past, nothing can change it no matter what I do. No reason to think about it anymore, I'm moving forward and doing something I truly want to be. That's enough for me, it's enough to keep walking ahead.'