Izuku and Kadachi found their seats at seven past eight. They were in a block reserved for the invitees that the students brought. Most of the other people there were parents or other family members. The block was located around the midpoint of the seating. The places located closer to the center of the arena contained important pro heroes or reporters, and those further away were for people who bought normal tickets. There were several box seats, ones that held people with too much money, and those were also located at the mid point.
Just like every year the colosseum was completely packed. As Izuku and Kadachi looked around there was seldom an empty seat. What was surprising was the level of security that had to be bypassed before entering the stadium. Thankfully, because of the number of people needed to move through the system, there was a lack of invasive screening. It was mostly the sheer level of pro heroes and police that were supposed to frighten villains. If previous years were anything to go by, that plan usually worked.
Izuku was wearing his standard green hoodie, complete with his Grandmaster collared shirt beneath it. He even had the mask and gloves in one of his pockets. He didn't expect anything too drastic to happen here, but after the attack on the USJ, even Izuku was on guard. Kadachi was wearing a plain t-shirt and pants. He didn't seem like he wanted to stand out in the crowd too much.
"Midoriya-kun," Kadachi turned to Izuku, shooting him a shaky smile. "Thank you for getting me to come out for this. There should be time for me to see her afterwards, and…" Kadachi let out a sigh. "I want to try and talk to her, about everything."
Izuku nodded at his old teacher. "Good. You both are important to me, and I hate seeing you two act like this around each other." Izuku gave his teacher a thumbs up. "You should just talk it over and I'm sure everything will resolve itself."
Kadachi nodded. "I'm sure it will as well. It's just… difficult to talk to her." Kadachi's mouth held in a firm line.
"I don't understand where you're coming from, sensei—"
"Please, call me Kadachi-san."
"Oh, alright—well, I don't understand where you're coming from, Kadachi-san, but I hope that you can push past your difficulties and move forward to a better future!" Izuku smiled brightly. "So, is there any reason why you feel you can't see Kirei any time? She is your daughter after all."
Kadachi rocked his head back and forth. "I don't want to disrupt her." He stated plainly. "I just feel that my presence will cause undue distress."
Izuku shook his head. "We'll work on that, Kadachi-san. I'm going to keep talking to her and encourage her to talk to you."
"You're too upbeat for your own good, Midoriya-kun." Kadachi smiled at his pupil, before a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Hey-yo, listeners! It's time to settle down and listen up!" The voice of Present Mic boomed through the stadium. "I'm the main MC of this event, and I would like to welcome you all to the annual UA sports festival!" A roar of applause and cheer echoed throughout the building. Present Mic loved hosting his radio show, but the sports fest was always his favorite event to MC. The level of excitement in the audience really burned the fire in his heart. "I'm not alone. Joining me in the booth this year is my favorite hero: Eraserhead! Say hello to the audience!"
There was the sound of a mic adjusting itself before a tired and dry voice came through. "Hello."
"Come on, come on, buddy! You can do better than that! They came all this way to have a great show!" Present Mic's voice was slightly quieter, having not said that directly into a microphone.
There was a groan. "We should be getting started, Mic." Eraserhead stated. One could hear the eye-roll in his tone.
"Right you are, Eraserhead! Without further delay, we present to you Japan's favorite hero! The man who hasn't lost a fight in decades! The number one and only: All Might!" Said number one hero came down from the sky, landing in the middle of the stadium. He was wearing his usual hero costume and carrying a small backpack. Everyone in the stadium and watching from their homes roared with cheer. All Might had been a guest speaker at the sports fest a few times, but this was the first time he was called on immediately.
"I am here!" The blond hero called out, flexing his muscles. "And I bring with me news of the first event!" With this the crowd collectively scratched their heads. Usually the first years were brought out and vaguely introduced before the first event was announced. What then confused the audience even more was a small white furry thing popping out from All Might's backpack.
"Hello, I am the principal of this school. Please call me Nezu!" He said the same thing as he did every year while spinning around on top of All Might's head, looking at the audience. "I do have the information on the first event for the first years, but before I go into it, we need to have the opening words." Nezu looked up at the announcer's box and nodded. Suddenly the various screens and holograms around the stadium switched from the various information they were displaying, and showed a grey-haired student—Ikioi. After just a moment the camera zoomed out, showing Ikioi's entire body, framed by the principal's office where it had been recorded. He was, of course, sitting on his wheelchair. After another moment, the boy spoke.
"My name is Shuriko Ikioi. I'm fifteen years old and in my first year here at UA." He bowed to the camera. "I would like to thank Nezu and the teachers for giving me the honor of giving the opening words here at the sports fest. As you can see," the boy gestured to the wheelchair he was sitting on. "I am not going to be an ordinary hero. I wasn't born like this, but nonetheless, this is who I am. I don't think of this as a detriment or a restriction. In my eyes this is a challenge that I simply must move past. In some ways I consider myself lucky." Ikioi smiled gently into the camera.
"This is a physical disability, one brought about by an accident, and one that can be overcome in an obvious way—not necessarily an easy one, mind you. I have spent countless hours training to work at—" The boy chuckled to himself. "—Peak performance while in a wheelchair and I refuse to discredit that. However, even after spending not even a full month with my peers, I can say that there are people in the school who have disabilities that are not visible. Heroes are those who must go above and beyond the call of duty, but are still human.
"So when you see me, please don't pity me and don't dwell on my condition. Think about those with PTSD, who still return to the battlefield everyday. Think about those who can't speak a word to anyone, but want to help with all their being. Think about those who just wish everything was in the right place, or was a bit quieter.
"So when you see my peers compete, don't think about me and my difficulties. Think about us all. Not just the students, but the teachers, the pros, and your friends. Everyone has a struggle, and everyone has their own way of dealing with it." Ikioi bowed again. "Thank you for letting me speak."
Once the boy finished talking, an applause erupted throughout the audience. Almost everyone was clapping for the speech. Nezu waited for a moment to allow everyone to get it out of their system before bringing the microphone to his mouth and beginning to speak. "So, now that the opening words are out of the way, I would like to introduce the first year students!" He looked around, feigning confusion. "But where are they? They aren't here yet?" Nezu chuckled to himself. "Oh! That's right, they're still at the main UA building, but that's so far away."
Suddenly a hologram came to life, filling the entire inner area of the arena. It was an aerial map of the campus, with the colosseum on one side and the main building on the other. There were dozens of bright dots near the main building. "I'm proud to announce the first event! A race! The first forty-two students to reach the colosseum get to move on to the second phase! The race starts—now!" The hologram zoomed in on the students, all of them momentarily stunned by the sudden news.
...
The first one to move was Bakugou, an explosion rocketing him forwards. He had blasted a few students to the ground—accidentally, of course. "What are you doing, extras?! Heroes don't hesitate!" He exclaimed, gaining distance on the rest of the crowd. The sudden blast and shout knocked the students from their daze, a large force of them rushing towards the colosseum. Before they could reach the colosseum, they needed to get through a field, a forest, and then one more large field.
Bakugou's lead lasted for a bit with Shoto and Hatsume directly on his tail. Shoto was making ice structures to fling him into the air, and Hatsume was using what could only be described as rocket skates. Behind them was Ikioi, Kirei, Hanta, Eijiro, Tetsutetsu, Tenya, and Fumikage. They were all using their normal athletic prowess to push themselves ahead of the rest of the pack.
"Interesting!" Present Mic exclaimed. "Iida Tenya isn't using his quirk to speed ahead of the rest! Eraserhead, any input on why he might be doing this?"
Eraserhead shrugged. "I trust his judgement. He might have a plan for the future."
Shoto was the first to reach the forest, and considering the density of trees, he had to reconsider his plan. Launching himself forwards with blocks of ice was no longer an option, so he started to swing himself from tree branch to tree branch. It was still a decent way to gain speed, but wasn't enough to keep up with Bakugou's new plan. Why go through the forest, when one could go over it? Bakugou blasted himself up and over, rocketing through the sky. It was slower then his usual pace, but still fast enough.
I will win this, he thought to himself. The air rushed past him, his eyes focused on his goal. I need to win this.
When Hanta reached the treeline, he smirked. He shot out tape and began to swing quickly from tree to tree. He used the taller ones to gain quite the large amount of distance, which allowed him to pass Shoto. Fumikage used Dark Shadow to do the same, leaving Shoto in fourth place. Shoto cursed himself internally, looking around to try and see if there was a faster way through this. He shook his head and stopped moving. He crouched down on the ground, preparing himself for what was about to happen. A large pillar of ice erupted from the ground, pushing Shoto into the air. He then stepped off it, but instead of falling he slid down an ice slide he was creating under himself. It wasn't constructed well enough to last for more than a few seconds, but it would last until he finished sliding past it.
"Wowza!" Present Mic interjected. "I wouldn't expect anything less from a Todoroki!"
Shoto used the slide to pick up a great deal of speed, before landing on the ground and sending himself up into the air again, repeating this process. Both Shoto and Bakugou expected themselves to be in first place, but both were wrong. Unknown to both of them, Ikioi was cruising through the forest below. His wheelchair flung itself off the ground and attached to a tree, wheels first, before flinging itself to another tree. The spherical device under his wheelchair left burn marks on the trees that it had touched. Unlike Hanta and Fumikage, who both had a similar strategy, Ikioi had more experience flying in straight lines through the air from using his spring powered suit. His route was already planned in his head, and he was happy the chair could keep up with him.
With that, Ikioi was the first to break out from the forest. The colosseum greeted him from across an empty field. However, before he could even think of just rushing through, a massive wall of cement rose before him. There was a passageway to get inside. The passageway led to what appeared to be a maze of solid rock. Cementoss leaned against the structure he had just made, completely exhausted from the effort.
The pro hero put a hand to his head. "Structure… completed." He wheezed out.
"Excellent." Nezu responded. "I wonder who will make it through this first," Nezu sang. "Snipe, you in position?"
"Y'all know I am. Took the finest horse this far east to get me here in time though."
"Good. Your job is to make sure no student goes over the maze."
"Yessir."
The cement maze was a structure nearly one kilometer wide in each direction; a mix of pathways and dead-ends sprawled inside. The entire structure had no ceiling, allowing natural light to illuminate it. Ikioi was the first to launch himself inside, followed shortly by Bakugou and Shoto—the former of which tried to blast himself over the maze, only to be shot down by snipe using a rubber bullet.
Bakugou growled, but acknowledged what the shot meant. This was a maze that had to be overcome, not bypassed. Since it had no roof, the people watching in the stands had a great view of the inner workings of the maze from the overhead drones. Ikioi was launching himself from wall to wall still, trying to find his own way through. Shoto sped quickly along on ice, while Bakugou ran and blasted himself forward as well, almost sending him face first into a wall a couple of times.
When Fudo reached the maze he stood for a moment, shocked by the sheer size of the structure before shrugging his shoulders and running inside. He had his headphones on and was playing some mix music from a playlist that he had made a while back. It was all tracks to help calm him down and keep himself focused. Due to the nature of his quirk it was likely that he wouldn't be able to connect to the internet or use bluetooth, the signals would just pass through him, so his headphones actually were a dedicated mp3 player on top of being bluetooth enabled as well.
Needless to say, the walls of the maze proved no issue to Fudo. Using Static Spread, he was able to easily slip through the walls and work his way directly to the other side. In the distance he heard the sound of people working their way through the structure. A knot formed in Fudo's stomach; he felt that it was wrong that he was having such an easy time with the first contest at the sports fest. What was supposed to be an event testing speed and wit turned into a simple jog for someone who couldn't be held by physical means. Fudo stopped to take a breather, leaning up against a wall and panting heavily. While he didn't have to exert himself too much to find the path through the maze, his quirk did take a toll on his stamina to use. Normally he kept it in a more reactive mode. The moment he sensed something near him he would phase through it. However, to make running easier, he had his quirk on the entire time.
It gave him a sensation similar to holding out one's arm for a prolonged period of time. At first it was easy with no pain, but after a short bit it began to hurt and ache, before finally it was a welcome relief to stop. Thankfully Fudo was quick on his feet, so he wouldn't have to spend too much longer in the maze with his quirk enabled. He figured he was around half way through it.
...
The sounds of explosions echoed throughout the maze. Bakugou was sprinting, using blasts to re-angle himself as well as speed himself up. I can't get lost, he thought to himself. I need to focus and find the way out of this shit-hole. Bakugou looked around the smooth cement walls of the maze. Bakugou was smart, don't get that wrong. He was at the top of his class. However, he hated puzzles. He just wanted to apply what he knew, but puzzles tested a different aspect of his thoughts.
He let out a large scream. It resounded throughout the maze, sending a chill down the spines of all those who heard it. Bakugou looked upwards, the sun approaching its zenith. Using the location of the rising sun he figured out the direction of the stadium. He put his hands close to the nearest wall before sparking his palms, taking out all of his anger and frustrations out onto this unalive piece of stone.
The blast released shook the ground and wall, sending a large shockwave through the building. The wall in front of the blond cracked and faltered. A large chunk was knocked loose from it and it flew forwards, slamming into the wall behind it. Cracks started to spread throughout the wall, splintering off and spreading; it looked like a spider's web. With a large groan, a section of wall started to tilt. It fell slowly at first, before picking up speed and coming down on the wall behind it. The weight and force of the wall slamming down cause the other wall to crack as well. Soon a chain reaction of chaos began. Wall after wall crumbled, cracked, and fell onto another.
This domino effect almost crushed several students before they moved out from under the falling concrete. Those in the stands watched with awe at the collateral damage done by one student. Many pro heroes took note of how powerful—and how reckless—Bakugou was. Izuku simply shook his head at the sloppiness of his childhood acquaintance.
"Unbelievable! Bakugou Katsuki took down several walls in an attempt to brute force his way to the exit!" Present Mic shouted. He was leaning forwards in his seat, eyes glued to his own monitor of events. "I sure hope that all of the students—wait! Look!" The holographic displays shifted their focus, zooming in on a general education student who looked up at the falling debris with an expression of pure shock. They made no effort to move out of the way or defend themselves. They stood, stunned, eyes fixed on the rocks that would surely prove to be their downfall.
...
Fudo needed to take another breather. He leaned against the wall and was panting heavily. Sweat caused his clothing to stick to his body. Some of his training did allow him to get used to the overuse of his quirk, but this was still very much beyond anything that he had tried in the past. As much as he didn't want to, he took his headphones off. The sweat was causing the cushioning of the headphones to stick awkwardly to his head. As he took them off he heard a loud shockwave from an explosion flood through the maze.
After a second or so the sound of rock hitting rock reverberated throughout the maze as well. Then again, then again. The series of loud thuds could only be so many things, and it didn't take Fudo too long to hazard a guess on what was happening. He lifted his head up, seeing the wall of the maze begin to crack. This section is going to come down too, he thought.
Fudo himself was far enough away from the section of wall that he would have been fine. However, through his slightly-blurred-from-exhaustion vision he saw a student. They were standing, staring at the wall. Move, dammit! Get out of the way! Fudo shouted in his mind. When the individual didn't show any signs of moving, a switch flipped inside of Fudo.
Even though his body was screaming at him to rest, his legs pushed him forwards without him telling them to do so. I am worthy of being a hero, Fudo told himself. I trained as hard as everyone else… Fudo felt the air in his lungs burn as he kept running. At this point the wall had cracked and was falling, bits and pieces hitting the ground around him. I am worthy of being a hero. He was less than a meter away from the student. I am worthy of being a hero. Fudo grit his teeth as he grabbed their shirt.
"I am worthy of being a hero!"
The wall collapsed down, pushing itself into the ground where Fudo and the other stood. Everyone in the stands had grown dead silent when they saw the wall hit the ground. Some of the onlookers turned pale, while some pro heroes shook their heads. Present Mic was speechless as he watched the events.
It was the voice of Aizawa that broke the silence. "They're fine. You should have been paying attention more closely." His words were clear; his voice unwavering. Those watching the events saw as a hand reached out from inside the rubble, and the head of the general education student poked above the surface of the collapsed wall. It was followed by another hand and Fudo's head. Both of them climbed up through seemingly nothing as they then laid on top of the wall.
Fudo looked completely drained while the other student put their hand to their chest to feel their heartbeat. Much of the stadium erupted into applause at the survival of the students. "Don't underestimate my pupils," Aizawa stated; his tone had a hint of smugness to it.
...
It didn't take that much longer for the event to end. Unfortunately for Fudo, he had pushed himself beyond his limits and fell unconscious after saving the other student. However, Bakugou did come in first. His plan on blasting a clear path did work, but it did have the adverse side effect of allowing several 'extras' to make their way over to the finish line. The winners of the race were told to gather in the center of the arena, while everyone who lost was to slowly make their way over to the stands. There was a section for students not participating in the sports festival. Bakugou smirked proudly at his win. He shoved his hands into his pockets, as he lost feeling in them a while back, and listened to the announcements given by the pro hero Midnight.
"Congratulations, students," she began, speaking happily into a microphone. "The top forty-two of you get to move onto the next event, and unfortunately, the rest of you tried your hardest." Midnight's eyes flashed down at Bakugou, and the blond felt the power of the glance directed at him. "Now then, Bakugou Katsuki, would you like to say a word or two?" Midnight kneeled down. She was standing on a stage and needed to lower the microphone if Bakugpu had any hope of speaking into it.
The blond smirked as he shoved his way to the front of the crowd. He grabbed the mic. "I'm gonna win. I'll show all of you that I am a hero." He handed the mic back before working his way away from the stage again. All of the students were dumbfounded for a moment at the sheer pride that was put on display.
Midnight shook her head and laughed. "Ah, youth." She cracked her whip on the stage to get everyone's attention again. "Now then, for the students who are still participating, please make your way over to the waiting rooms. There should be several large rooms for you to relax in. The next event will start in around twenty minutes!" Midnight clapped for the students as they made their way out of the arena. "Plus Ultra!"
...
During the break, Izuku sat and stared at his phone. He had sent Shoto a message earlier that day asking him to send a message back with the time and place when he felt like talking. Kadachi was fidgeting in his seat. The older man turned to Izuku. "I'm going to go get some snacks. You want anything, Midoriya-kun?"
Izuku shook his head. "I'm gonna go check on how Kirei is doing. They said people with family tickets can go talk to the contestants." Kadachi bit his lip and nodded at the greenette.
"Tell me—Tell me how she is..." Kadachi asked before turning around and briskly walking away. Izuku let out a small sigh; he had hoped that the man would be willing to talk to Kirei, but baby steps.
With that, Izuku made his way down the spectator's area and found himself in front of a door. The pro Hound Dog was guarding the door. He sniffed the air as Izuku got close. Izuku pulled the ticket he got from Kirei out of his pocket. "I'm here to talk to Kirei."
Hound Dog just narrowed his eyes, walking around the boy and smelling him. "Proceed," the pro snarled, and Izuku nodded before bolting off down the hallway. Hound Dog had a heart of gold, but the man's presence was a bit scary at times. Izuku found the entrance to several rooms, each one with a pro hero standing guard.
"Hey there, little buddy!" One of the pros called out. He was a rather large man wearing a bright yellow hoodie. "Whatcha lookin for?"
Izuku smiled. "Fat Gum!" The boy's face turned red. He had been holding it in for a while, but seeing a pro this close was giving him goosebumps. "I'm honored to talk to you! I can really appreciate your more casual style of patrolling! There's something to be said for having a relaxed demeanor! It would certainly calm me down if I saw you on the street! You're also—"
"What're you here for, kid?" A firm voice cut through Izuku's ramble. The greenette spun around to see Aizawa glaring at him, gaze red and hair lifting. The teacher still had some bandages, but not nearly as many as he had had right after the USJ attack two weeks ago.
Izuku turned white when he realized that he was rambling instead of answering the pro's question. "I—I wanted to see Kirei!" Izuku half-shouted, holding up his ticket.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes for a moment, before relaxing. "Good, follow me. I want to check in on my problem children myself." The pro walked past Izuku. Fat Gum pointed to one of the doors and Aizawa nodded in response. Izuku followed the pro to the door. It swung open to reveal class 1-A lounging around in a large room. As far as Izuku could tell from a cursory glance, the only ones not there were Fudo, Shoto, and Ikioi.
Aizawa clapped as he entered, getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Not bad." The pro's tone had a hint of pride in it. "You all made it through to the second round."
Momo looked to the ground. "But Tsukatte-kun didn't." She looked broken up about her classmate's results.
"Yeah!" Eijiro butted in. "If it wasn't for that loud-mouthed blond blowing up the maze, he woulda gotten through! His quirk was made for that!"
Aizawa shook his head. "These things happen. I'm just happy that both he and the other student are alright. I've already spoken to Recovery Girl. He should be up and about within half an hour or so. He's just tired." It was at this point that several of the students either noticed or acknowledged the presence of Izuku. Kaminari and Momo waved to him, while Kirei perked up a bit, a slight smile creeping on her face. Aizawa turned to Izuku. "Now, I should normally just let you talk to Kirei, but eh. I have faith that you won't try anything. You have ten minutes tops." The pro hero turned and left the room.
Kirei, Momo, and Kaminari walked over to where Izuku was. "Hey, bro!" The electric one said. "It's so rad of you to make it."
"I hope you're enjoying yourself so far," Momo added.
"Oh! I am!" Izuku scratched the back of his head. "It was really cool watching you all use your quirks." Izuku turned to Kirei, who was just standing there. "I have a question though, Kirei." The girl raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you use your quirk at all? You just sprinted most of the way."
Kirei shrugged. "I just wanted to save it, I suppose." Kirei looked down at one of her scale-covered arms. "Using my quirk still drains me more than I wish it would." Kirei sighed. "I want to be able to use it for a while—hell, I would've won the race if I could."
"It is hard to outrun lightning." Kaminari interjected.
Kirei rolled her eyes and lightly chuckled to herself, Kaminari's dumb joke getting to her a bit. "Well, I can't. So I got thirty-fifth place." She shrugged again. "So, uh…" Kirei's eyes switched between Izuku and her classmates. "Is he here?" She asked tentatively before crossing her arms. "My dad, I mean…"
Izuku nodded while smiling. "Yeah, he is. Do you want to talk to him after the next event?"
Kirei fiddled with her hands. Her expression was already shaky enough and the question only added more unease. "Um…" She was staring off into the distance.
Momo put her hand on Kirei's shoulder, snapping her out of it. "It's alright, Kirei-san." Momo smiled at her classmate. "You can take your time with things." Kirei shot Momo a half-smile before walking away, bowing slightly to Izuku. Momo turned to the greenette. "You seem like a good friend. This is the first time I've heard about her father. I know that I have no authority to pry into her life, but you seem like you're trying your hardest to resolve their issues." Momo bowed at Izuku. "Thank you, Midoriya-kun."
Izuku just blushed and scratched the back of his head. "D-don't mention it, Yaoyorozu-chan." The door suddenly opened to reveal Aizawa.
"You need to leave, kid," the pro hero spoke firmly. "They need as much prep time as they can get." Izuku just nodded his head and left the room, waving good-bye to his friends in class 1-A.
As Izuku was making his way down the hall to get back to his seats, he overheard two pros talking.
"Did they really detect the warper?"
"Yeah, he's somewhere close, but they're not sure where."
"Shit. We need to bolster defenses then."
"Already in progress; go inform the rest of your block about it."
"Yessir."
Izuku felt his heart rate increase by a few counts. If the warper is who I think they are… Don't tell me the League is here… The greenette thought to himself, muttering gently. I need to tell Kadachi. I need a counter plan, I can't let them do whatever they want. While I really hope it won't come to it, The Grandmaster will strike if needed.