warnings: none

literally just a light-hearted chapter before the sports festival

Class isn't canceled on Saturday. Izuku meets Shinsou, Wakana, and Mashirao on their way to school, and they walk in together, an oppressive air hanging over them, intensifying as they walk into the building. They slowly, reluctantly, part ways and head to their individual classrooms.

Most everyone in 1-C seems to be unaffected by the events of the day before. There are a few exceptions: Kita looks terrified. Yamazaki, back in her corner, has a dark expression on her face.

And, in her desk behind Izuku's, Mori looks somber and serious. He sits down in his desk and turns around to look at Mori as she's reaching forward to tap his shoulder. Her eyes widen for a moment, and she leans back in her seat.

"Are you okay?" she asks. "I know you have friends in 1-A."

"Yeah," Izuku replies, nodding. "All my friends are okay—none of the students were majorly injured." And his mother had received the message last night that Aizawa, while massively beat up, was expected to recover in time.

"That's good," Mori says, smiling at him. It looks strained. "It must have been scary. I was scared, and I don't even know anyone in 1-A!"

"Yeah," Izuku says, swallowing the lump in his throat. "It was." Ugh, he couldn't wait for his session with Dr. Mori—wait. "Are you related to Mori Hanae, by the way?"

Mori's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. "Yeah. She's my aunt. Are you one of her patients?"

Izuku nodded. "She's a really great therapist," he says. And she really, really was. His mother, when his quirk came in, had taken a chance on Dr. Mori, telling her at least most of the truth about Izuku's father, and Dr. Mori had kept her secrecy.

"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" Mori replies, laughing a little. "I don't… officially have any sessions with her, since she's family, but she's helped me out a lot over the years!"

They have to cut their conversation off as Snipe walks in, but Izuku gives Mori one last, soft smile before turning around to face the front of the room.

"We're still havin' the Sports Festival," he says, "so all yous gunnin' for hero course don't gotta worry a bit about that."

Izuku tries not to make his sigh of relief too obvious, but at Wakana's look, he knows he's failed.

Someone messages the group chat during the teacher change.

heroes or bust!

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 09:00

Midoriya Izuku GUESS WHO DRAGGED HIMSELF TO WORK

THERE ISN'T AN INCH OF HIM THAT'S NOT BANDAGED

[image- this hardcore ]

me

sent: 09:00

what a goddamn hypocrite

"Midoriya don't overwork yourself! Midoriya take time to recover! Midoriya take it easy when you're injured!"

SEE IF I EVER LISTEN TO HIM AGAIN

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 09:01

are you sure that's your teacher and not an imposter with a mummy quirk?

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 09:01

OH MY GOD

I'M SENDING THAT TO THE 1-A CHAT

what if he is an imposter oh no

Aizawa's too smart to come to work this hurt right?

me

sent: 09:02

Actually, this is perfectly in character for him

Roka Aomi

received: 09:03

Ojiro Mashirao there's a 1-A chat? OwO

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 09:03

No, I will not add you to it

Roka Aomi

received: 09:03

:( QnQ

Izuku had to put his phone away as his next teacher walked in. Kayama looked worn out, a little worse for the wear, but she still brought her usual spunk to class as she slapped the blackboard with her whip.

"Just because we had a little excitement yesterday doesn't mean any of us will be going easy on you today!"

Izuku waits at U.A. after his classes are over for the day. The hero students have an extra period in the day, so he needs to wait until that's over before he can go confront Aizawa. Wakana and Shinsou wait with him, all three of them working on their English assignment together, until it's time, and then they make their way across the school.

There are still students in 1-A's classroom as Izuku slams the door open, all of them startling and turning to look at him. His gaze zeroes in on one person, at the front of the room, looking just as he had in the picture Mashirao had sent the group chat.

"Mr. Aizawa," Izuku growls.

"…Midoriya." Wow, his mentor is even harder to read with all those bandages covering on his face.

He can feel the eyes of the hero course students on him, he can hear Wakana and Shinsou following him, but he ignores those things as he stalks into the classroom and right up to Aizawa's face.

"You goddamn hypocrite," he says, pointing in Aizawa's face. "If I'm not allowed to go to school after getting a concussion, then you're not allowed to come to work with a fractured orbital floor."

Someone whispers "oh my god" from somewhere behind him. Izuku ignores it in favor of staring Aizawa down.

They stand there for several moments, filling the room with friction, but eventually, Aizawa blinks first. He can hear one or two of the hero course students gasp but ignores them.

Aizawa sighs. His breath catches a little, on the inhale. Broken ribs? Recover Girl probably couldn't heal everything at once, given the extent of the injuries…

"You're getting bold," Aizawa finally says.

"That's your fault," Izuku replies, taking a step back and crossing his arms. "I will be telling my mom about this."

"I have no doubt that, if you don't, Mic or Midnight will," Aizawa replies. He looks over Izuku's shoulder, eyes narrowing, and Izuku turns, catching sight of the remnants of class 1-A in the room, all staring with wide eyes. There's Yaoyorozu, and Izuku waves at her with a small smile. She, almost distractedly, waves back.

He turns back to Aizawa, points at him again, says "get some rest," and then leaves the classroom with Wakana and Shinsou.

"Wow," Shinsou breathes. "You just chewed out Eraserhead."

"Yeah?" Izuku says, shrugging. "He's not that scary."

"Right." Shinsou sounds skeptical, and Izuku just shrugs. He'll figure it out for himself, sooner or later, that Aizawa, underneath all the layers of 'I don't give a shit' and 'I'd rather be sleeping', is a huge softie (in some ways).

That night, Kayama is the only one who shows up for dinner. That's okay—Yamada had texted ahead, saying that he was forcefully keeping Aizawa at home, a decision that Izuku and his mom both agree whole-heartedly with. Hopefully he'll spend Sunday just sleeping and recovering, but for some reason, Izuku doubts that.

So Kayama shows up, wearing a large purple sweater and bringing a bottle of wine to split with Inko.

"Shouta told me to ask you how guns with Snipe went today," she says to Izuku as she walks in, setting the wine on the table. It's a brand that Izuku knows his mom likes, a little on the expensive side, but not so expensive that she can't afford to buy some occasionally for special occasions.

"Well, we did go see Power Loader. He kept having to chase this girl out of the lab," Izuku replies, and Kayama nods, understanding crossing her features.

"Yeah, he's been complaining about that a lot," she says. "If it's the kid I'm thinking of, her name's Hatsume. From what I hear from Majima, she's going to be one of the greats, if she can just keep herself alive that long."

Izuku nods. She certainly had been enthusiastic, despite not being allowed in the labs yet (due to being a first year in the first month of schooling).

"So," he says, setting his pen down, taking a break on his homework. "We're still holding the Sports Festival."

Kayama sighs. "Yeah. We are. That's good for you, but there were some serious concerns about security. I don't think you'll need to worry about it, though, we're going to be using the next weeks to make sure it's as safe as possible."

"I'm not worried," Izuku replies. "The staff at U.A. are all top-notch heroes. It'd be pretty stupid to attack an event where all of them are in one spot, right?" He smiles, a little shaky, trying to hide the doubt he still feels. "Especially on the heels of one attack, when security's sure to be stronger than ever."

Kayama's laugh is soft. "I'm glad to hear you have faith in us." She gently bumps his shoulder with her fist before walking into the kitchen to help Inko finish up dinner. Izuku watches her go before picking up his pen to keep working on his homework, gears turning in his brain.

The next week, Izuku spends gathering information about the other classes. Mashirao is happy to help, in the spirit of fairness, while Aomi is less inclined to snitch on her classmates. Izuku may or may not sneak into spots to observe practicals with the hero students as well. Shinsou's steadily improving at hand-to-hand, probably not enough for it to carry him through the tournament, but it's a noticeable difference and the hero hopefuls are ready and generous with their praise.

It's over the two weeks leading up to the Festival that Wakana, Izuku, and Shinsou all realize that they have the exact same strategy to get through it, which is, essentially, the same strategy that those who came before them used. If it works, it works: they'll push their way through the first two events without their quirks and then save them until they really need them in the tournament. Their greatest weapon will be the element of surprise.

There's really only one notable event leading up to the Sports Festival, occurring the Thursday before it happens. Mashirao is the one who messages the group chat about it.

heroes or bust!

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 16:11

It finally happened! The first of our class has fallen

Roka Aomi

received: 16:11

wow that's dramatic

what happened

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 16:11

Aizawa finally expelled someone

me

sent: 16:12

Was it the grape kid?

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 16:12

THE GRAPE KID

Yes

me

sent: 16:12

I overheard him complaining about the grape kid to Yamada and Kayama.

Ojiro Mashirao

received: 16:12

Honestly, it was about time. I was just waiting for it to happen. Now there's a slot open for… one of you

me

sent: 16:12

It's going to be me

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 16:12

that slot is mine

Shibayama Ichihei

received: 16:13

I cannot wait to watch you two beat each other up on national television

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 16:13

honestly, if they pair me up against Midoriya in the tournament, i'm just screwed, no two ways about it

Nakano Wakana

received: 16:13

:)

I think I will just do my best

And then petition to transfer in later, when you two aren't jockeying for the spot

Roka Aomi

received: 16:13

you're so much nicer than they deserve

That night, Izuku gets added to a group chat with just Shinsou and Wakana in it.

general tomfoolery

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 21:03

do either of you want to go declare war on 1-A with me on saturday?

me

sent: 21:03

Go do WHAT

I mean, sure, why not

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 21:03

great

this really obnoxious guy from 1-B told me about it actually

he was an asshole

me

sent: 21:04

So you're doing what this asshole is?

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 21:04

i never pretended not to be an asshole

me

sent: 21:04

You Got Me There!

Nakano Wakana You up for it?

Nakano Wakana

received: 21:04

Sure!

I will smile at them :D

me

sent: 21:05

They're going to be shaking in their boots

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 21:05

as they should be

so according to the obnoxious guy, they're going to ambush 1-A outside their classroom as school lets out on saturday

Nakano Wakana

received: 21:05

[thumbs up emoji]

me

sent: 21:05

[thumbs up emoji]

…Hey you remember when I yelled at Aizawa a couple weeks ago right?

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 21:05

lmao how could i forget

me

sent: 21:06

There were 1-A students who witnessed it

Shinsou Hitoshi

received: 21:06

OH

they're going to be terrified

this is going to be so much fun

Nakano Wakana

received: 21:06

:D :D :D

I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE THE SPORTS FESTIVAL CHAPTERS

see i went into them with one idea, then during the cavalry battle, the characters were like 'no we're gonna do this not that' and. i think it's a pretty unique outcome? i, personally, haven't seen many fics that handle the cavalry battle and tournament part the way i have.

thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, and followed!

see you next time!

(x-posted on ao3, username: orkestrations)

(tumblr: orkestrations)