Shouto could feel his ears pop as an explosion shook the ground beneath his feet. Thankfully, this wasn't the first time he'd felt the effects of Bakugou's Quirk, and he was easily able to maintain his footing as he sprinted through the small gateway. It only took him a few seconds to force his way through the majority of the crowd and into the narrow tunnel that led to the outside the stadium.

The moment he broke free of the crowd, Shoto reached out for the nearest wall and kicked his Quirk into gear. The temperature around the right side of his body dropped drastically, and a wave of ice rapidly grew to cover the floor and right wall of the tunnel. He couldn't help but smile as cries of despair and frustration echoed out behind him, before he altered the direction of his Quirk to help propel himself forward.

"YOU'LL HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAN, ICY-HOT!" Shouto stole a quick glance over his shoulder just in time to see Bakugou using his Quirk to fly over the rest of the students. For the most part, it looked like his entire class as avoided his ice trap. He'd expected as much, considering he'd used similar techniques during the mock battles and various training sessions they'd had over the few weeks of school.

"And just like that, Class 1-A has given themselves a massive lead in this race!" called Present Mic with his trademarked radio-host voice. "A flashbang right at the start, followed by a devastating ice trap. We try our best not to play favorites here, but you can't help but respect a show of force like that, right Eraser?"

Aizawa's voice sounded a little more tired than normal as he spoke up. "I'd hardly call that a show of force. These were two students acting in a way that they felt would give them the best advantage over everyone else. The reason the rest of them weren't caught up in it all is all because of experience. They learned the hard way that if you don't react in time, you may not get a second chance."

Sunlight assaulted the dual-Quirked boy as he exited the tunnel. Moments later, he was joined by Bakugou and Midoriya, with the rest of their classmates close behind. Shouto could feel his competitive nature kick into overdrive, and he sent a thin sheet of ice forward and to the side as he ran, attempting to cause the green-haired boy to lose his footing. Midoriya easily dodged the attack, grinning slyly at his classmate in response.

"Your class may be good, Eraser, but let's see how they react to the first obstacle in this race!"

Shouto rounded the first bend in the race and slowed his pace drastically. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Shards of glass clattered on the floor as the cup in Tomura's hand shattered beneath his grip. Though it was mostly obscured, Kurogiri could see the mixture of emotions that were painted on the boy's face. Normally, his anger or frustration meant something, or someone, was getting disintegrated. If the emotion was strong enough, the boy would sometimes lock himself in a room for an extended period of time.

Yet, in all the years they'd worked together, Kurogiri had never seen Tomura break something out of anger without the aid of his Quirk. He could only assume that this was a new level of rage he'd never seen before. Not that he could blame the boy in this instance.

"How?" The word scraped its way past Tomura's gritted teeth. "How is that boy still alive?"

The face currently displayed on the TV monitor was one that Kurogiri thought he'd never see again. After all, the last time either of them had seen this boy, he had just taken the full force of Noumu's punch, one that was intended to kill a pro hero. Even if he had somehow survived the impact, there was no reasonable way he could have just won the first event of the U.A. Sports Festival. The man couldn't help but feel some sense of wonder in spite of his own rising anger.

"He is a monument to your failure." Master's voice resonated from the speakers of the older tv set in the corner of the room. "A reminder of a past you wish to forget. Anger is completely justified."

Tomura's jaw clenched behind the hand covering his face. He seemed completely oblivious to the various cuts now coating his palm as he growled. "But how? I need to know how he survived that!

"I believe," Kurogiri cut in, hoping to help defuse some of the boy's rising temper, "that we may get some answers as we continue watching his performance."

The tension in Tomura's jaw didn't lessen at all, but nonetheless he held his tongue, allowing silence to fill the bar yet again.

It took a moment for Tooru's eyes to adjust as she exited from the tunnel back into the stadium. She wasn't too surprised to have come in thirty-eighth place, but that didn't make it any less frustrating. Still, Present Mic had mentioned that the first forty-two finishers of the race would move on to the next round, so she didn't have too much room to complain. Especially considering how the beginning of the race had gone.

From what she could see, all of the Heroics students had made it into the top positions. The other two spots seemed to belong to the girl with pink hair and steampunk style goggles, who had been hot on Tooru's tail most of the race, and a kid that looked like a slim version of the radish spirit from Spirited Away. She could only guess that they were from the support and general courses respectively, but had no indication as to what their Quirks might be.

After another moment of surveying the rest of the competition, Tooru jogged over to where her class had gathered. There she found Izuku having a somewhat animated conversation with Bakugou and Ochako. Unsurprisingly, the former wasn't too happy about having come in third place.

"—you and Icy-Hot. I mean, you I get, with that Quirk of yours, but how did the human thermostat beat me?" Small explosions crackled in the blond's hands as he spoke.

Tooru couldn't help but laugh at the impromptu nickname for Todoroki as she joined the group, hugging Izuku briefly from behind. "Well, maybe if you hadn't lagged behind to flash-bang half the school, you could have come in second."

"Yeah, well—"" Bakugou started to reply before Midnight's voice rang out through the stadium.

"And there you have it! We've got our forty-two final contestants that will be moving on to the second round of this competition. For the rest of you who didn't make it, don't you worry. We've got two separate events for this second round, so just sit tight!"

The image on the monitor shifted again, displaying the wheel that had chosen the first event. Tooru could feel her heart begin to race as the wheel started spinning, becoming a blur of characters. "Round and round the roulette goes," Midnight sing-songed. "Where will it stop…?"

At a crack of the pro hero's whip, the wheel halted in its tracks, deciding the nature of the upcoming event. A collective murmur made its way through the crowd of students as well as the audience.

"A cavalry battle!" Midnight made her way to the edge of the stadium as Present Mic took over. "The goal is simple, folks: get the most points! Each of our qualifiers has been assigned a point value, based on what place they achieved in the obstacle race. Number forty-two has five points, forty-one has ten points, and so on."

The monitor shifted back to showing images of each of the contestants, ordered by their point value. Muttering erupted yet again, just as Present Mic continued speaking. "But, as you can see, there's one exception. Our first place winner has a much higher point value: ten million!"

Izuku's face visibly paled at the pro hero's words, and Tooru would have been surprised if there was a single set of eyes that wasn't currently trained on the green-haired boy. Some of the gathered contestants had even started whispering amongst themselves, presumably coming up with some preliminary plans.

"Now, before everyone starts ganging up on poor Midoriya there, we need to tell you how this event actually works! First thing's first: this is a team event. All of you will need to get into groups of three or four, which will ultimately determine your team point value. Once you've got your teams assembled, you'll need to go over to our lovely Ms. Midnight, where you will be given a headband with your point value. Once we've reached that point, we'll explain the rest of the event."

The crowd of students quickly erupted in conversation. Bakugou almost immediately left, yelling at Kirishima to be on his team. Ochako made a comment to Izuku about still being willing to be on his team, despite being an obvious target, something the boy seemed extremely grateful for. As he turned to Tooru, however, the invisible girl slowly shook her head. "Tooru, are you—"

"I'm sorry, Izuku," Tooru interrupted. "You know I love you, and as much as I'd love to be on your team—I need to prove that I can do this without your help." She gave her boyfriend a determined look. Besides, I don't think my Quirk would make a good combo with you and Ochako."

Izuku smiled and nodded in understanding. "I had a feeling you'd say something like that. Just promise that if you join up with Aoyama again, you won't go and blow up the whole stadium."

"I'm not crying! You're crying! I knew being on that kid's team was a bad idea!"

"We're both crying, Tetsu. Besides, we made it into the final round, didn't we? So it couldn't have been that bad."

"Still, that Quirk needs a 'friendly fire' setting!"

Izuku did his best to hide his smile as he walked by Shiozaki and Tetsutetsu, the latter muttering to himself about how "onions aren't even shaped like that" as they headed towards the serving area. Present Mic had announced an hour-long lunch break at the conclusion of the cavalry battle, after which the brackets for the final tournament would be announced. After the stress and intensity of the past few hours, Izuku was more than grateful for the moment of respite.

It only took him a few moments to reach the prep room where he had left the bento his mother had packed for him. As he opened the door to the small room, he became immediately aware of the presence of one of his classmates. Todoroki looked up from his own meal as Izuku stepped through the door, obviously not expecting anyone to be joining him. "Midoriya? I thought you'd be eating with Hagakure and the others."

"Well, that's the plan, yeah," he responded, trying to remember which locker he'd stored his bag in. "I guess I'm just surprised you're in here all alone. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen you eat with anyone in the class at lunch before, so it's not that surprising, it's just a little unexpected, I guess. Am I rambling again? Because I feel like I'm rambling again."

"You're rambling again." The boy's voice was as blank as his expression, then a hint of a smile broke through. "I guess that's not too surprising, either."

Silence filled the small room as Izuku finally located his bag and lunch. Curiosity began to nag at him, however, and he turned back towards his classmate. "Todoroki? Why'd you call me out earlier?"

The other boy seemed confused for a moment. "Are you talking about the All Might thing?"

Izuku nodded, idly toying with the clasp on the box. "I'd be surprised if our whole class hasn't noticed by now, but you were the one who mentioned it. Why does it matter to you so much if All Might has an interest in me?"

Todoroki chewed his food for a long moment, pondering the question. To Izuku, it almost seemed like the boy was hesitant to answer. "I guess you might say it's personal," he finally replied, choosing his words carefully. "I assume you've heard of the Flame Hero: Endeavor."

"Yeah I do! He's the number—well, right now he's the number two hero, just behind All Might, but they've traded spots a lot over the past few years." Izuku had to struggle to rein in his excitement as he tried to figure out why his classmate would be bringing up the number-two hero. "Has he—is he training you or something?"

A light chuckle came from the boy at the table. "I can see why you'd assume that, given the conversation. He's actually my dad."

The green-haired boy nearly dropped his bento box as he moved to join Todoroki at the table. "He's your dad? There have been tons of speculations about him being married, even theories as to who his wife is. But I don't think anyone even suspects he may have a kid."

Todoroki tried his best to keep his face neutral, but the subtle look of amusement was obvious to Izuku. "Well, he has four. He'd like you to believe that I'm his third child, but I'm actually number four."

"That makes so much sense, considering how you already have a strong handle on your Quirk, not to mention your sparing skills. And I guess your mom has some kind of ice Quirk, yeah?"

"You figured that out pretty quick." The boy was outright grinning at this point, chuckling lightly as he spoke. "Yes, my mom has an ice Quirk, and a strong one at that. My other siblings inherited bits and pieces of my parents' Quirks, except for Touya; he only got dad's fire. When my Quirk manifested, dad realized it was a perfect split, so he and mom have been training me since."

"Is—Your mom isn't a hero, too, is she?"

Todoroki shook his head, "No, just a housewife with an ice Quirk. Apparently, she and my dad were middle school sweethearts or something. But we're getting off topic. The reason I asked about All Might's interest in you is because I'm basically Endeavor's protege; if All Might has taken you under her wing, you could almost say we're rivals by proxy."

After another long moment of silence, a smile returned to Izuku's face. "Well—" he began, pausing to gather his thoughts. "—I may not be All Might's protege, but I'll always welcome another rival. Besides, you can never have enough motivation to reach for the top."

The taller boy grinned in response. "I like the way you think, Midoriya. Now, you should probably head back to the rest of the class before your girlfriend gets jealous."

"What is up, listeners? I hope everyone is enjoying the break, because we are almost ready to get this show on the road!"

The noise of the audience slowly began to settle as the speakers came back to life. Most of the students had finished their meals and migrated to their designated spectator areas, which were mostly divided by class. Tooru, for the most part, had been unconsciously gripping Izuku's hand the entire time out of nervousness. "Let's throw that bracket up on the big screen! Contestants, here are your matchups!"

Tooru's heart rate picked back up as she stared up at the display, her jaw falling open slightly. "I-I'm first? W-why do I have to go first?"

"Our first match of this tournament will be starting in about fifteen minutes! Hagakure Tooru and Tamanegi Siegward, head on down to prep room's A and B respectively! Tokoyami Fumikage and Yaoyorozu Momo, you two are on deck!"

It took a long moment before Tooru was able to pull her eyes away from the screen. From her side, Izuku gave her a slight nudge to get her attention. She felt herself begin to squeeze his hand even harder and had to make a conscious effort to relax her grip. "Do you want me to walk down with you?" he asked, a soft smile on his face. She nodded mutely, then stood and followed him back out into the large hallway, barely hearing any of the cheers and well-wishes of her classmates.

Neither spoke as they made their way down the empty hallways. Tooru took full advantage of the solitude, leaning her head against Izuku's shoulder as they walked. The green-haired boy laid his arm over her shoulders in a comforting gesture, one she welcomed with silent gratitude. It wasn't until they reached the sign for the prep room that the invisible girl remembered why she needed comforting in the first place.

"Izuku?" Her voice felt distant, almost disconnected. "Can—can you give me a hug before you head back?"

The boy simply smiled before pulling her close, one hand pressed against her back, the other lightly holding her head. Tooru wrapped her arms around his torso and laid her head against his chest, holding herself against him. The steady drumming of his heart filled her mind, sending her back to an empty rooftop beneath a star-filled sky. In that moment, she didn't care that she was about to walk out in front of thousands of people. She didn't care that she was about to fight another student. All that mattered was him.

"You'll do great out there, Tooru," Izuku muttered, scratching her back in a slow, light circle. "You've got the whole class cheering for you."

Tooru smiled softly before reluctantly pulling away from the embrace. "Here's hoping I don't make a fool of myself against radish guy."

Confusion showed on the boy's face. "Radish? His quirk seemed more onion-related."

"No, I mean his looks. His face looks like the radish spirit from Spirited Away. And now I realize you've probably never seen that movie…"

The comment drew a chuckle from Izuku. "Yeah, there are a lot of movies I haven't seen. I'll need to catch up one of these days." His chuckle broke into outright laughter as Tooru punched him in the arm, a broad smile showing on her own face. "I think I need to head back so you can have some prep time. You gonna be ok?"

"I should be fine now. Thank you for everything." In a quick motion, Tooru rose up on the balls of her feet and planted a quick peck on the boy's cheek, then turned and headed the rest of the way towards the prep room.

Tooru closed her eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath as she stood in the small tunnel that led onto the field. A small amount of adrenaline was already leaking into her system, and a large part of her just wanted to get the round started. After what seemed like an eternity, Present Mic's voice sounded yet again through the speakers.

"Listeners young and old, it's the moment you've been waiting for: the start of the First- Year Stage Tournament! Our first matchup of the afternoon is on deck, and I for one cannot wait to see how this one goes!" Whistles and shouts of excitement echoed through the stadium, making Tooru's heart race with anticipation. "Coming from the A gate, we've got the Invisible Mistress of Mystery from class 1-A: Hagakure Tooru!"

A roar of applause and cheers followed Tooru as she jogged out across the grass towards the concrete arena situated in the middle of the field. Myriad voices echoed her name, and she turned a slow circle, waving in response. She could only hope they would notice the movement of her sleeves, since she had neglected to wear her regular wristbands.

Mic's voice started up again just as she reached the arena. "And coming from the B gate, this general studies student sure left a lasting impression during the cavalry battle, the Onion Man: Tamanegi Siegward!"

Though the cheers for the other student weren't quite as loud as they had been for Tooru, they still easily filled the stadium and drew a smile from the odd-looking boy. The two locked eyes from across the arena and he gave a slight nod. Tooru replied with a half bow, straightening up quickly as Midnight stepped up onto the platform beside the arena.

"Here are the rules for this tournament," the R-Rated hero called out, her voice amplified by the mic attached to her suit's collar. "You win if your opponent is knocked out of bounds, immobilized, or if they surrender. We've got Recovery Girl on standby, so you can use just about as much force as you need to, so long as you don't kill each other. Any questions?"

"Nope," Tooru replied, pulling the top of her tracksuit up over her head and tossing it aside. Tamanegi seemed a little dumbfounded that his opponent appeared to be stripping in front of him, and needed a second prompting from Midnight before he responded in kind.

The pro hero raised her whip. "Contestants ready?"

"Ready!"

"Ready."

The whip crack echoed through the stadium, and Tooru immediately took off at a dead sprint, angling towards her left. Just as she moved, the odd appendages on Tamanegi's face rose, spraying out a fine mist in a cone in front of him. Tooru held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as she dove into a roll, not wanting a second encounter with the boy's strange Quirk.

As soon as her roll ended, she planted her hands and left foot, using her remaining momentum to bring her right leg around in a sweep. Her calf impacted the front of the boy's ankles hard, taking his feet out from under him and dropping him to his knees. He threw a wild punch out to the side, one which Tooru dodged as she kicked off from her left foot. Tamanegi's outstretched arm gave her an opening, and within moments, she had her right arm under his, her hand against the back of his neck, while her left arm snaked across his throat in a chokehold.

Tamanegi struggled against her hold for a few moments before slapping the ground hard with his free hand. "Yield! I yield!" Tooru released her grip, rolling backwards over one shoulder and onto her feet as Midnight raised her whip.

"Tamanegi admits defeat. Hagakure advances to the next round!" She couldn't help but smile as the stadium erupted in applause. A few people even went as far as to chant her name.

"I guess we're going to have to use thermal imaging for her next round, because I wish I knew what happened there!" There was almost a hint of agitation in Present Mic's voice, but it disappeared so quickly that Tooru was certain she was simply imagining it. "Hagakure took that win in record time and advances to the quarter-finals! "

Cheers continued to echo through the stadium as Tooru made her way back to the edge of the arena to retrieve her tracksuit. Just as she finished pulling the pants up and over her bodysuit, a voice called out to her from behind.

"Hey, Hagakure." She turned to see Tamanegi, his face wrinkled in what she could only assume was a smile. "Good luck for the rest of the tournament. That Quirk of yours makes fighting you a real pain."

Tooru laughed and took his outstretched hand for a brief shake. "It certainly gave me a bit of an advantage there. I didn't choke you too hard, did I?"

The boy shook his head. "It was nothing I couldn't handle. Though you had me pinned pretty good. That was a clean win on your part."

"I'm just glad I can still see with my eyes closed. Your Quirk can be a pain to deal with in its own right."

The two shook hands one last time before Tamanegi bid Tooru farewell and made his way back across the arena to his entry gate. With a smile on her face, she tugged on the top of her tracksuit and began the long walk back towards the rest of class 1-A.

So, uh, yeah. On to the tournament.

A few quick explanations: First, no. Shinsou did not make it through the obstacle race. Blown eardrums really mess up equilibrium and make it near impossible to run. Plus, I really don't like the idea that a group of people carrying someone could outrun a single person running on their own. However, I don't plan to leave him out of the story entirely. I have other plans for getting him into the hero course eventually.

Next is Tooru's opponent. Tamanegi Siegward is an OC who probably won't be shown again. He was a construct pulled from my coworker's respective buttholes, but I realized that his Quirk, Onion Mist, would potentially give him and his team a decent advantage in the first two events. His name is derived from the Japanese word for "onion" as well as Siegward of Catarina from Dark Souls III.

Finally, for those who may be curious, here is the lineup for the first round of the tournament:

Hagakure Tooru v. Tamanegi Siegward

Yaoyorozu Momo v. Tokoyami Fumikage

Bakugou Katsuki v. Uraraka Ochako

Kirishima Eijiro v. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Hatsume Mei v. Iida Tenya

Kaminari Denki v. Shiozaki Ibara

Midoriya Izuku v. Ashido Mina

Todoroki Shouto v. Sero Hanta

As stated in last chapter's notes, I won't be focusing too much on stuff that stays true to canon. You know what happens, and it's already been written a lot.