"Are you ready Manami," Izuku asked as the 1-A class rode the bus out to the stadium. It was that time of the year for the U.A. annual sports festival, a time for the entire school to show off to every prospective employer and to the public, their abilities and what to expect from them in the coming years. The festival was a multi-day-long event that was so popular it replaced the Olympics as other nations also adopted the practice to showcase their heroes in training as well.
Manami squirmed in her seat, which was Izuku's lap, as she felt a little overwhelmed at the special task she had been given.
"Ms. Aiba," Nezu said cheerfully. "I would like to offer you the chance to open the sports festival because of how you managed to place first in the entrance exam."
The small girl's pink eyes scanned the faces of the U.A. staff members waiting for them to tell her it was a joke, when they were only giving her soft smiles in return she asked, what she felt was, an honest question. "Sir, why not Bakugo, he also placed first alongside me, shouldn't we open this together at least?"
Shaking his head, Nezu steepled his paws as he anticipated the obvious question. " His behavior," the principal nodded at Kan, the 1-B homeroom teacher, "and attitude over the past couple of weeks has given us the notion that allowing him this honor would be ill-advised."
"Oh," Manami said, "and can I refuse?" she nervously asked.
"Why ever would you want to?" Nezu inquired.
"I'm not that great at public speaking," Manami admitted. She never had too many issues in classes as she typically had Izuku with her and it wasn't as if she had to address a stadium full of people.
"I understand, getting up and talking to a crowd can be a daunting task," Nezu nodded. "However, once you end up becoming a professional heroine, there may be times that you must address large groups of people or even give an interview. Doing so now with no expectations on your shoulders, may be beneficial to you later in life."
"Can I think about it for a few days at least?" Manami requested.
"Absolutely, the festival isn't for a week anyway. Have fun preparing."
"So you're going to do it?" Izuku asked as he hugged his girlfriend tightly.
"Mmhm," she hummed as she watched the massive structure come into view from the window. "I can do this, especially because if I get nervous, you'll be in the crowd and I can just picture you naked."
"I thought you're supposed to picture everybody naked?" Izuku said in confusion.
"Nope, I only want to see you naked," Manami giggled.
Izuku sighed happily and tickled Manami since she was already in his grasp. "You're too much sometimes."
"Ladies and gentlemen," Present Mic shouted. "Welcome to day one of the U.A. sports festival, we have an exciting lineup of events prepared for you all today, I am your host and master of ceremonies, Present Mic, and in the booth with me to do color commentary is my good friend, my bestie, Eraserhead."
The 1-A students were waiting in one of the rooms that ran in a ring around the lower level of the building, with some of the students looking more nervous than others. "Man, you can really hear that crowd," Mina commented as the cheers could be heard even below the concrete.
"How many people are going to be out there," Shoji asked.
"The stadium seats around fifty thousand and this is televised across Japan, the United States, and has so many live streams that the viewership is in the millions." Momo stated. "My family's business has a few ads and sponsors for the festival."
"Wow," Manami said nervously. "That's a lot of people."
"And they are going to adore you," Izuku said reassuringly as he pulled her into a tight hug.
"Ye-yeah, right, I'm cute as heck, they're going to love me," Manami stood up on her chair proudly. "Let's go 1-A," she pumped her fist in the air.
"1-A," Izuku said, joining her rallying cry.
"1-A," the rest of the class said as they got into the spirit.
"And there they are folks, the legendary first-year class that fought off villains in their first week," Present Mic said. "See that confidence, it sends shivers down my spine."
After that introduction, Manami's mind was sent into overdrive as she actually got to see the crowd and not just hear it. "That's a lot of people," Manami gasped as she took in the sight of the large stadium.
For the next few minutes all Manami heard was the roar of the crowd and she almost missed her cue to get on the podium if Izuku hadn't nudged her. "Ahem," she started by clearing her throat. "Um, my uh, name is," she nervously began speaking, however realizing that she was losing it, she paused and took a breath. "I can do this," she said to herself.
"Welcome to the U.A. Sports Festival, my name is Manami Aiba and I would like to thank you all for coming, not just the audience, or the teachers, the sponsors and all the people sitting at home. I want to thank all the students who are here, not just because it's a mandatory event, but because they all chose to be heroes," Manami pointed to the crowd. "this doesn't just include the hero course, because what are the heroes without a network of people who care, helping and supporting them along the way. Today isn't about heroes or the school though, it's about fun and maybe a little bit of showing off," Manami said to a laughing crowd. "So let's all go out there and do our best, Plus Ultra!" she cheered to the crowd who joined in.
"That was great Manami," Izuku said as he hugged his girlfriend.
"Please don't make me do that again, it was too much," Manami exhaled deeply. "I do not enjoy speaking to crowds."
"Okay, I won't make you do that," Izuku smiled. "But if you win, you'll have to give another speech."
"Is that you trying to psyche me out in the competition," Manami gasped. "Because it's working," she smirked.
"Never," Izuku chuckled. "Ready, for the race?"
"Wait, what race?" Manami shouted as she realized she hadn't been paying attention again.
"Begin," Midnight shouted to the students who all ran as a mass.
"Oop," Manami grunted as she felt herself get picked up. "Hey, no helping mister," she scolded as she realized Izuku began to carry her.
"Sorry, I just didn't want you to get trampled in the crowd," he blushed as he set her back down on the ice that Todoroki had made. "It was a reflex, honest."
"Well, that's okay I guess," Manami smiled, before sprinting through the mass of students. "At least I can fit between them," she called out.
Izuku grinned as he formed lightning over his body and vaulted over the tops of the students.
"And they are off, with Shoto Todoroki taking a rapid lead by freezing his competition," Present Mic spectated. "However it seems the number one scorer Manami Aiba and the 1-A class president aren't far behind using their size or lack thereof and a versatile quirk to get around the obstacles."
"I'm going to kill him," Manami swore as she realized that one of her teachers was making jabs about her height.
"I'm going to kill you!" Katsuki swore at Deku as he launched himself out of the crowd of students, the explosion not showing any concern for the other students, coincidentally the shockwave was enough to free most of the students from the ice, creating a surge of students who rushed to catch up.
"But what would an obstacle race be, without the obstacles," Present Mic asked. "Welcome to Robo-Inferno," he announced as the massive robots from the entrance exam loomed over the contestants. "These Zero-Pointers are what the entrants to the Hero Course faced during their exam, lets see if the other students can get past them. Fun fact, the only student to ever destroy a Zero-Pointer in a single strike, other than All Might, is the 1-A class president."
"Holy crap, these things are huge," a random gen-ed student exclaimed.
"The hero course really had to fight these things?"
"And it looks like Todoroki Shoto isn't slowing down," Present Mic commented as he watched the student slide right up to the machines before freezing many of them in a huge glacier. "Wowza, that's chilling," the pun coming naturally to the hero.. "This move opened up the path for the others, will it prove to be disadvantageous later on."
As the students proceeded to try and run through the course, they were suddenly enveloped by the shadows of the falling machines. "Kirishima, Sato, Shoji, help me catch them or someone's going to get hurt," Izuku called out to his classmates as he moved to protect everyone from being crushed.
"On it prez," Kirishima nodded as he slammed into one of the machines and braced himself to stop it from tilting over. Sato and Shoji then pushed the machine back away from the path of runners.
"Oh ho, what's this," Present Mic gawked. "It seems the 1-A students are stopping and making sure everyone gets safely through. What sportsmanship, what heroism, what-"
"Illogical decisions," Aizawa grumbled. "This isn't an event where you can sacrifice time and your position to help others. This is to reflect the real world of heroism, where you have to create your own paths to success and impede others along the way," he said as he provided a scathing overview of how modern heroes get ahead in the profession.
"Hrrg," Izuku grunted as he felt himself slipping under the weight of the second frozen Zero-Pointer. "Need some... help over here," he said as he realized that even by using One for All he wasn't going to be able to hold the machine for much longer.
"I got you," Manami called out before a blonde blur shot passed her.
"DIE!" Katsuki roared as he slammed into the large machine above Izuku. "I'm not going to let you make me look bad, DEKU!" before he let loose with a massive explosion which shot the machine back from the force.
"Thanks, Kaccha-" Izuku tried to say before Katsuki got in his face.
"Don't fucker, I don't want to hear it, after all this, everyone will realize how worthless you really are," Katsuki hissed before he sprinted off to regain his position at the front of the pack.
"You good Prez?" Kirishima asked as he came over.
"Yeah, you should go on, I just need a minute to catch my breath." Izuku waved off his classmate who shrugged and hurried to catch up.
"Sweetie are you okay," Manami calmly asked.
Izuku nodded. "I will be, just, Kacchan, he's still," he tried to find the right words.
"I understand, I'm here for you," Manami said as she put her hands on her boyfriend's leg.
"We need to go, we're at the back of the pack now," Izuku said as he realized that everyone else had long since left.
"Dang it, I'll never catch uu-eeep," Manami squealed as Izuku put her in a princess lift and sprinted down the track, rapidly catching up to everyone else. "I said I didn't want any help," she pouted in Izuku's arms.
"Sorry, but we were helping others, doesn't seem fair if you get punished for doing the right thing, does it?" Izuku smirked as he leapt over the crowd.
"Fine," Manami groaned. "But last time mister." She warned as he set her down at the chasm.
"Oh, what's this?" Izuku said as he looked down into the pit.
"Welcome to the Fall," Present Mic stated, "if you fall down, then you're disqualified. So tread lightly."
"Wow, that's uh, deep," Izuku gulped as he looked away from the pit.
"Yeah, I uh, can see," Manami hummed as she never got over heights after her attempted suicide.
"I promise, I'll catch you if you fall," Izuku said as he looked at the first platform that he planned to jump to. "Always."
"Thanks," Manami nodded as she started to balance her way across the rope. "Just don't look down," she chanted to herself as she started to make her way across.
Izuku looked back each time he jumped to make sure Manami was doing fine, which really hampered the speed that he could move, since he didn't want to leave her behind. And a few more students like Iida, Tsuyu and Pony had managed to pass him in the meantime.
"I think it's cute," Jirou smiled as she watched Izuku waiting for Manami to pass. "He's not doing it for her, but."
"He'd be much further ahead if he left her behind though," Kaminari commented.
"Yeah, but I don't think he could do that," Momo reasoned, the group of three had managed to jog at near the same pace.
"I think it's lame, but she likes lame," Mineta said, alerting everyone to his presence.
"Oh my god you little gremlin, get off!" Momo screamed as she flailed when she realized that Mineta was on the back of her shirt.
"That's what she said," Kaminari laughed. "Ow! Why?" he exclaimed as Jirou stabbed him in the eye with her quirk.
"You know why," Jirou scowled.
"You didn't have to wait," Manami said as she finished crossing the gap. "I was fine."
"I know, and I'm proud you did it too," Izuku said before he started to jog.
"I know you can go faster than that," Manami glared.
"I know, but I also know this school, I do not want to be first place," Izuku reasoned as a few other students listened in. "Every year they do something to punish the person who places first and it's only slightly easier for the people in the higher positions. I'm saving myself the headache of that."
"Damn you're right, the principal would do that," Manami cringed as she knew Nezu would love nothing more than piling on the pressure. "That's a pretty good idea Midori-Ai."
"I have those from time to time, I have you for the rest of the times though," Izuku teased.
"Oh god, they're flirting again," Sero laughed loudly as he overheard the couple say how much they loved each other.
"Rule 1," Aizawa said forcefully into his microphone.
"We aren't doing anything!" Manami shouted into the sky.
"And we've arrived at the last obstacle, the minefield, which we made because Power Loader had too many left over explosives and he didn't want to report it to the police. Don't worry parents, they are non-lethal, mostly," Present Mic assured.
"Oh boy," Izuku groaned. "It's like a room full of Kacchans."
"Don't think that," Manami chuckled. "Think of it as Kacchans with tolerable personalities."
"Because they are inanimate objects?"
"No, because they don't talk and are buried in the dirt, where they belong."
"Damn," Izuku gasped as he had never heard this level of harshness before.
"Teehee, let's go Midori-Ai," Manami cheered as she sprinted out onto the field, the benefit of being lower to the ground meant that she could easily see where the dirt had been dug up and she was making great time through the minefield.
Sighing, Izuku started to leap from open area to open area, using the angle of being further back to see spots where the dirt hadn't been disturbed. "And we have our first winner, Shoto Todoroki, followed closely by Katsuki Bakugo," Present Mic started to announce the winners of the race.
"Wooh," Manami clapped, "top fifteen, take that Coach Yumi. Said I'd never win a race with my stubby legs. Sure showed her."
"That's great Manami," Izuku huffed as he wiped his brow of the sweat he built up from constantly jumping around.
"Now let's get right into the second event," Midnight said as she took the podium once more.
"What?" Kaminari said in shock. "Not even a moment to catch our breath."
"Sorry, this is all about stamina and endurance," Midnight purred as she snapped her whip hard. "So don't get soft on me yet."
"Ye-yes ma'am," many of the boys shouted loudly as they perked up.
"Haha, whipped," Jirou joked before people started to boo her. "Come on, the pun was good," she said in her defense.
"The next event is," Midnight announced as she spun the wheel, "Cavalry Battle! The goal of this event is to take the other team's bandanas while protecting your own." Midnight continued on to explain how the points were distributed and that first place was worth one million. "So, form up teams and get ready, you have five minutes."
"So Manami, would you," Izuku said as he got down on one knee. "Do me the honor of," he said as he tried to keep a straight face but couldn't stop himself from giggling and grinning.
"Oh Izuku, yes, yes, a thousand times yes, I'll be on your team," Manami snorted as she took her boyfriend's hand.
"Sick, now let's go grab some other people, I think Momo would be a good addition," Izuku suggested.
"Ooh, already inviting other women," Manami teased. "But I'm fine with Momo, oh and grab O-chan too, she's got a nice quirk," the small lady shouted to Izuku.
"Just a nice quirk," Izuku hummed.
"Not my fault you like big boobs," Manami teased as she hefted her bust. "And they got some nice knockers."
"I can't tell if they're playfully bantering or actually negotiating a harem right now," Iida said to Todoroki.
"I don't know what that is," Todoroki mentioned.
"Man, you need to get out more," Mineta said as he closed himself off from the rest of the competitors on Shoji's back.
"I might not know much, but I do know taking advice from Mineta would be bad, right?" Todoroki asked nervously.
"Definitely," Jirou nodded firmly.
"Good, good."
"Ready or not, the event is starting," Midnight said as she saw the teams scramble to create last minute strategies.
"Is that fair," Sato asked as he looked at Team Midoriya, which consisted of Izuku carrying Momo and Ochako on his shoulders, with Manami wrapping her legs around his head.
"I'm not sure, what I do know is that it's manly as hell," Kirishima said excitedly as he felt that he too should be carrying his entire team. "Look, even Pony and Shoji are doing it too," he groaned as he realized he could be going further beyond.
"Wow Uraraka, you quirk is making this so much easier," Izuku smiled as he felt almost no weight on his body. "I mean, not that you girls are fat or heavy, but that without the... uh, I'm just going to stop talking now."
"Aww sweetie," Manami said as she kissed the top of his head. "We know what you mean."
"I got the weapons ready," Momo said as she distributed the pellet guns to Manami and Uraraka.
"With my baby's speed and all the firepower that Momo can make," Manami said proudly. "We're going to be number one."
"Are you sure you can balance us all," Uraraka asked as she looked down to see Izuku's grinning face.
"Yeah, this is way less work than hauling cars," Izuku said dismissing her concern.
"Seriously," Manami pulled up Izuku's shirt. "look at his core, you could grind meat on those abs," she said, pointing to Izuku's tight musculature.
"Oh my," Uraraka and Momo blushed and looked away from their classmate's stomach.
"If you are done showing off your boyfriend like a hunk of hunk," Midnight said softly even as her eye twitched. "We can begin."
"Jealous?" Manami laughed up at the podium.
"Don't make me come down there child, I can do things to you that you didn't know were possible," Midnight warned.
"Promises promises," Manami teased.
"Just get started before I do something we can't show on television," Midnight folded her arms.
"And they are off, with the rush for the one million first in most teams' minds," Present Mic said, describing the action on the field,as many teams rushed Todoroki, who swung his arm and blocked off half the field from the other side, heavily limiting what points teams could accrue.
"Wow, and another cold and calculating maneuver by Todoroki," Present Mic said proudly. "Going to be really tough to make it to the top if you can't scale that mountain."
"Dang it," Izuku hissed as he skidded to a halt next to the ice wall. "Don't think I can knock that down in one hit."
"Worry about the other teams first," Momo called out as she fired a few pellets at Dark Shadow who was creeping along the ground. With a hiss the quirk retreated.
"Right," Izuku nodded as he started to run towards the other teams.
Meanwhile on the other side of the blockage, Todorki's team was busy fending off the assault from the remaining teams on their side of the ice. "Are you sure about these boots," Iida asked as he looked from the back of the pack towards Mei.
"Of course, I lift up and then you thrust," Mei cackled madly as she lowered her goggles over her eyes
"That's what she said!" Kaminari quickly shouted before clamping his mouth shut and trying not to laugh himself silly.
"Yes," Todoroki bluntly acknowledged. "Mei is a girl and said those things."
"You have got to get out more," Iida said as he shook his head at the immaturity of his team.
"Let's get some points," Izuku shouted as he jumped off the wall of ice and towards one of the other teams.
"We've got ourselves a right riotous event today folks." Present Mic cheered. "With the field split in two, it's now even harder for teams to maneuver and it looks like one of the 1-B recommendation students has just used his quirk to turn the field into quicksand."
With Izuku's speed he was dodging in between groups while the girls fired their weapons at the other teams to disorient them enough for their headbands to get stolen, however Izuku realized this would soon become a problem. "If we take too many, then everyone will be able to come after us," he said to the girls on him.
"So what do we do," Manami asked as she popped a few shots at Tsuyu's tongue.
"We either need to stop earning points or we need to open the field up," Izuku reasoned. "That'll give us more space to work with and offer other targets."
"Good plan." Manami agreed as she kissed his forehead and pointed at the frozen obstacle. "Now baby, smash that wall."
"What's this?!" Present Mic shouted as he saw the glow coming from one of the students, having heard the story from Aizawa about what happened at the USJ. "Are we going to see the infamous Love Smash?!" he cried out causing the crowd to wonder what the announcer meant.
"Ready?" he asked as the girls tightly gripped his shirt to brace themselves. Izuku reared back his fist before slamming it into the glacier, exploding it into a fine, glittery mist.
"Amazing!" Present Mic said into his microphone as the crowd exploded into cheers and applause. "A truly devastating combo attack."
The 1-A students that had been on the other side of Todoroki's wall had heard Present Mic's words, and were worried. "He's not really going to smash the wall, right?" Kaminari nervously chuckled as he kept an eye on the glacier.
"I mean, Midoriya is a bit of a wild card, but he could do it," Iida answered honestly.
"What's a Love Smash," Mei asked before the sound of a hurricane hit her eardrums. "Holy shit," she cried out as she covered her head and saw that the massive block of ice had been obliterated in one strike. "HOLY SHIT!?" she exclaimed as she saw Izuku huffed as he shook his arm, glowing pink while green sparks of electricity arced across his body.
"Yeah, our class president is kind of a madlad," Kaminari shrugged. "Also, we should definitely run."
"Tactical Retreat," Iida called out as most of the 1-A teams scattered to get out of Izuku's line of sight. The 1-B students apparently didn't get the memo,with some trying to rush Izuku to grab the headbands from Manami, expecting him to be too tired to run.
"Yes, the Love Smash," Present Mic explained. "A combination attack using the quirk of Manami Aiba to greatly reinforce Izuku Midoriya's body, allowing him to push his quirk to levels well beyond that of most heroes. In fact, it's highly reminiscent of All Might."
"Did we just target a guy who is as strong as All Might right now?" Kendo questioned her team as they tried to slow down before Izuku vanished from in front of them.
"Where's my head band!" Mineta screeched from inside Shoji's arms. He had thought he'd be untouchable in the shell but didn't know when the cloth was taken from him.
"Hey, mine's gone too!" Kinoko cried out.
"Sorry, we only have a few minutes left," Izuku said as he twirled the stolen bands on his finger before passing them to Manami. "so I'm not going to hold back," he smirked before he vanished at high speeds again.
"I really didn't want to do this now, but I need to keep us away from Midoriya," Iida complained as he rocketed his team away as fast as he could as he saw Izuku heading his direction. "Recipro Burst!" he shouted as he accelerated to keep as much distance as possible from Izuku.
"Dude!" Mei cried out. "He's gaining on us, somehow," she whined as she saw Izuku closing in on them.
"Impossible, how fast is he?" Iida said in shock as he could see that Izuku was in fact catching up to them, his body arcing even more lightning as he sprinted after their team.
"I'll stop him," Todoroki stated as he released a huge wave of ice from his hand, hoping to catch the pursuing teen in the frost.
"SMASH!" Izuku roared as he shattered the block in an instant, continuing his chase for the one million points. All the while the crowd was going nuts for the high speed action.
"Incredible!" Present Mic cheered. "Nothing is stopping the 1-A class president."
As the two speeding teams ran around the arena, they brushed past the team that Ojiro was on, causing him to stumble back.
"Oh and it looks like a brawl has broken out between the members of team Shinso," Present Mic shouted. "What is going on down there?"
Midnight seeing that the event was quickly devolving, blasted a horn to stop the teams. "I'm calling time now, bring your headbands to me so we can tally the points."
"Why stop it so soon?" Iida questioned as he huffed from running for so long.
"Because too many teams just began fighting each other," Midnight sighed as she had watched as the fight between Team Shinso had spread to others with Katsuki rabidly attacking anyone who got near him. "It wasn't worth the embarrassment to allow you all to keep going."
As the students waited for Midnight to tally the points the tension between some students was thickening. "And we have our teams, Team Todoroki in first place, having kept the one million points safe, in second place Team Lovers, nice catch there class president," Midnight winked at Izuku who hadn't realized that Manami had named their team that.
Izuku frantically turned to the girls he had been carrying for the event only to see them giggling. "Oh it's so cute when he gets worked up like that," Uraraka smiled as Manami had let them in on the joke beforehand.
"In third is Team Bakugo and lastly is Team Animal," she declared as the faces of the competitors appeared on the monitor. "We'll take a short break for the last event to get set up, for those that are not participating we will have snacks and other games set up for you to enjoy. So stick around as the Sports Festival continues!" Midnight cheered.
As the students gathered in the cafeteria to get their food, many of them had fallen into conversations after not having moved on to the second or third event. However one particular teen decided this was the best time to get some answers.
"Midoriya, can I talk to you?" Todoroki said as he approached Izuku who was eating with Manami and a few others. "Alone."
Izuku swallowed his mouthful of food and stood up. "Sure," he nodded as he followed the other boy out of the cafeteria.
"Well that was ominous," Momo stated. "I wonder what he's going to talk to him about?"
"Probably some declaration of war," Manami hummed, "Izuku is the strongest in the whole class, so he probably wants to make some promise to fight him at his full strength or something," she said, guessing at the intentions and what it would be like if this was a manga.
In an offside hall, Todoroki stared down Izuku, which was starting to unnerve him. "So Todoroki, what did you want to talk to me about?" Izuku chuckled as he rubbed his arm.
"Everyone keeps saying your quirk is so much like All Might," Todoroki said. "So I'm going to ask you right out, are you his son?"
Izuku blinked before stifling a laugh. "No, I'm not, at best he's a stand-in for my real father."
"Explain," Todoroki demanded as he folded his arms, feeling like Izuku wasn't being entirely truthful with him.
"Look, my dad, he walked out on my mom," Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "She tried her best to raise me, but I needed someone to look up to, and All Might was it. He was everything I wanted in a father, strong, courageous, always there when people needed him. He was the person I wanted to become, no matter how hard it was," Izuku said as he closed his eyes and thought about how he felt about the man. "So when everyone says how much like All Might I am, it...it makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing."
"Hrn," Todoroki grunted in annoyance. "Sounds like you got lucky." Todoroki said as he walked away in a huff, disgruntled that he heard someone speak so highly of a father figure when his own was the cause of most of his problems, even as the memories of his pasted flooded his mind.
Sighing Izuku waited a few minutes before he headed back to the cafeteria. "So, what did Todoroki want to talk to you about?" Manami asked.
"It was kind of personal, I shouldn't say," Izuku said as he thought on what Todoroki had told him and more about what was unsaid.
"Oh, okay then," Manami replied, knowing that if Izuku didn't want to share it with her, then it must be none of her business. "They announced the first battle."
"Who's it going to be?" Izuku asked.
"Us." Manami said as she poked her food.
"Oh." was all Izuku could reply with as he looked at the rest of his class who had heard the announcement.
