The day of the sports festival came so suddenly upon them, that for Izuku, it felt like someone had just nailed him in the back of the head with an unexpected brick.
Of course, maybe it was just the mixed results of his two weeks of training. He probably would have felt so much more confident and ready if he had been able to master most of what Venom had tried to teach him.
He had not. He had managed the Scythe just fine, and he had become pretty decent at using webbing as a whip or rope. But that was about it.
He hadn't managed to master more advanced webbing techniques like the kind Venom had used to encase Shocker during the invasion. Not without Venom providing the groundwork and aim.
Which wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it meant he needed to set it up, rather than being able to just do it on the fly. Not to mention that he needed to tell Venom to do it, which just wasn't a realistic option on a chaotic battlefield, where 5 seconds could make the difference between life and death.
Not to mention stealth, which would be broken by one of them suddenly beginning to talk to lay out a plan.
At least he'd become much better at aiming his ranged attacks, but that didn't help him when the balls of black goo he fired just splattered into harmless liquid instead of encasing his targets, or as was the case with the really advanced stuff, become hard enough to act as actual physical projectiles.
He was still trying to get a grip on that when he realized it was just one more day of training before the sports festival.
The two weeks were over and seemed to have disappeared in a flash.
And now, there was nothing to do but try and relax before the morrow, when he'd have to try and put what he could do to the test.
I
It was a regular night at the Midoriyas.
Inko was reading through some stacks of paper from work, doubtless related to a case of some kind, Izuku was writing down the experiences of his training in full in his black book, and going over what he had done before, seeing if there might have been something he might have missed, and finally, Venom sat at the TV watching some anime from a century back, about a delinquent girl.
It was all perfectly normal, a random moment in time, that could have been used to describe this household's regular days for the last months.
Then, as she was reading through yet another page, Inko's phone rang.
Neither Izuku nor Venom turned to look, nor did they pay attention to the words she spoke, each focused on their own things.
Thus Izuku didn't see the joyous, pure smile that sprouted on his mom's face, nor did he pay attention as she headed out, simply assuming she was getting up to head to the bathroom.
Izuku didn't realize his mother had gone out before roughly half an hour later when he looked up to see that she had closed her laptop and put away all her papers. So consumed about his own limits and shortcomings was he at that moment, while dreading the coming day.
Though he didn't know it at the time, his world had just reached a turning point. One far more important to Izuku's life, than the tournament that had consumed all of his attention at the moment.
All thanks to a phone call on a random night, that he had paid no attention to. Such was the way of things.
I
The school entrance was packed by reporters and camera crews as he walked to the regular opening in the wall.
It wasn't the first time they had had to deal with nosy reporters around the school(There had been a lot who just wanted to ask about All Might), but Izuku could generally just avoid them all together thanks to Venom and his ability to pick them out without getting close, but the sheer amount of them today really made all the difference.
As did their behavior. Usually, these people would be shoving their mics up in the students' faces, and peppering them with questions, without any sense of personal space.
Not today though, as they let the students pass in complete peace, and not one question was fired over the temporary portable fence separating them from the students.
Presumably, they didn't want to risk getting booted out from the event altogether, by harassing the students. Not with the security being much stricter and harsher than usual due to the invasion.
Well, that and the heroes standing by the entrance.
The heroes in question were a couple of women Izuku didn't know, but the black cat-shaped badges on the front of their outfits, along with some high-tech looking vambraces told him they were part of Black Cat's Agency.
The hero on the left wore an outfit that kinda reminded him of the one Jirou wore, in that, I was basically just a regular set of clothing, composed of a black jacket, a t-shirt, a set of pants, gloves, and boots.
Where it differed from Jiro was in composition, as the loose black coat she wore was longer, going down around her waist, as well as being trimmed with white fur. The t-shirt was also different, being white, and in perfect shape, unlike Jirou's intentionally ripped red punker shirt.
Her pants were pretty much the same look as Jirou's, but her gloves and boots weren't much alike at all, both being military-styled. In the case of the gloves, they were connected to a set of techno vambraces.
The clothing, however, was where the similarities to Jirou ended. The woman in question had shoulder-length spiky hair, with bangs in front, covering a womanly, face with an expression of shyness and nervousness, that couldn't have been more unlike the confident tomboy Jirou's if she tried.
Her body structure was also completely different, whereas Jirou was only 5 feet tall, this woman was a giant, towering over most people, standing maybe 2 meters tall, with a truly massive bust.
On the opposite end was the Hero to the right.
Just as tall, also with an outfit of regular clothing put together into a hero outfit, she might have appeared similar to her counterpart, but she most certainly did not.
If her counterpart was dressed in somewhat regular, if unusual clothing for her outfit, this woman was dressed in fully standard clothing.
On top she wore an open in the front green jacket, with rolled-up sleeves, showcasing both a set of high-tech vambraces, as well as a set of arms just as muscular as Uraraka's were.
Under said jacket she wore a black buttoned-up shirt, with the top buttons open, doing a good job showcasing the cleavage of a bust even larger than her counterpart.
Lower down she wore a short green skirt, over a set of black, skin tight knee-high socks, over a set of legs just as powerfully built as her arms were.
Below she wore a set of green sneakers of the same style and brand as the kind Izuku liked to wear.
Her hair was long, black, silky smooth, and went down her back, all the way to her waist.
Her face was rather sharp, with a strong jaw, and narrow blue eyes. Not a hint of cosmetics, whether it be lipstick or mascara was to see on it. Instead, she wore a confident, dangerous grin.
Normally, the sight of this woman would probably have made Izuku flustered as he walked by, but it did not. Instead, like the reporters, he was struck by the Aura she exuded.
For one thing, it instantly reminded him about Katsuki in his more dangerous moments, only instead of that seething anger being directed at him, it was instead being directed at the poor reporters, as if daring them to step out of line.
That Aura was only enhanced by the final effect of her personage, a long, thick metal bat slung over her shoulder.
Though the bat was perfectly clean and didn't look out of the ordinary from any other, grey metal bats, there was something about it that sent shivers down Izuku's spine.
As he approached, both women turned to look at him, the woman with the bat changing expressions to a more jovial smile, as she lifted up her phone.
"Name and class?"
"Izuku… Midoriya Izuku, class 1-A…"
"Oh, so you're Midori eh?"
The older woman looked him up and down with an inquisitive look, while seemingly comparing him with something on her phone.
"Man, you're plain. The way Mina talked about you, I expected you to be an adorable Kitten, not-."
Izuku could feel the redness build up over his cheeks, but thankfully he was saved by the other hero.
"Don't bully him, sis. Midori-Kun, just go inside and to the regular bus spot okay? You'll go along with the rest of your class from there."
He nodded, and without a word, he passed through the gate to the school.
As he walked he saw a dozen more pro-heroes patrolling the school grounds. Many he recognized, but many more he didn't.
He almost stumbled over his own feet when he suddenly recognized Edgeshot, the number 5 Hero of Japan.
"Holy crap it's Edgeshot…"
"...Are you seriously going to act like this every single time we meet a top hero?"
He didn't answer, instead covering his mouth, while squeeing at the sight of the Ninja clad hero.
After a bit of silence, Venom continued with a question.
"So… That's Edgeshot right? Number 5?"
"Yeah… He's only under All Might, Endeavor, Hawks and Best Jeanist in rank."
"... We're gonna ignore that there is a hero called Best Jeanist. So you wish to study under Edgeshot?"
The question took Izuku completely off guard.
"What?"
"We asked if you wanna become his apprentice? That is why we're doing this right? We fight to impress the tops, to become their interns so that we can utilize this connection to get ahead in the world?"
Truth be told, Izuku hadn't actually considered that part of the tournament.
He had been way too focused on not making a fool of himself, to focus on the fact that the reason he was substantially here, was to impress the pro heroes.
Instantly, the joy of seeing the pros all around him turned to dust in his gut.
Venom was right.
They were here to impress these heroes, in the hope that one of them would take them on as an intern. If they couldn't… Wouldn't that make this… All a giant waste of time?
In that case though…. Was Edgeshot a hero he should be aiming for?
"... I… I don't Edgeshot would be a good hero to train under for us."
"Oh? Something wrong with him?"
"No, he's an amazing hero. It's just… His powers and fighting style isn't anything like us. In terms of our own personal powers… Well… Realistically speaking, there isn't much we can learn from him."
"We see… Sooo… Who would serve us better to learn from then?"
Izuku knew the answer. There were two heroes that would fit the bill better than any other, but as the answer was about to leave his tongue, he was interrupted by a loud voice from behind.
That, someone, turned out to be Iida, who quickly made the regular morning greetings, and began inquiring about how he felt.
After that, they were quickly swept up by the rest of the class on their way to the bus.
I
Izuku had hoped that once they finally got to the stadium the sports festival was held in, his nerves would hopefully become less dire.
Instead, the opposite happened, and as he stood near the corner, his back against the wall, all he could do was stare at the clock up on the wall, ticking, and ticking away until the moment of doom.
It was ridiculous. Insane. He had gone into life threatening situations, and he had handled them relatively well, without being paralyzed by fear.
So, why… Why did that looking at the clock up on the wall, suddenly make him feel like he was back a year ago?
Logically speaking, Mina was right. He shouldn't be feeling like this. But he was.
Somehow, now that this whole tournament was about to happen, he felt a fear of going out there for the world to see. A fear the likes of which he hadn't felt since the entrance exam when he had faced the giant zero-point robot.
He feared going out there.
He recognized this feeling. It was a feeling he had suffered many, many times in his life.
The fear of standing up, and saying something he thought because he had had it beaten into him what happened if he did.
He had hoped, no, believed so strongly, that he had left this part of him behind the day he bonded with Venom.
But he hadn't.
He just hadn't been in a position where these old feelings were put to the forefront. Back during his last year of middle school, he had kept a low profile, because he had realized that he didn't care about what the people of his class thought of him anymore. He had no good memories from his old class, and subsequently, had lost any interest in impressing them.
That was not the case here. He DID care what the rest of the class thought of him. He did care what his teachers thought of him. He did care what the pro heroes watching it all thought of him. He cared what the crowd thought of him.
He feared, irrationally, that if he made a fool out of himself now, it would cause everyone to turn on him. It was insane. Ridiculous. But at that moment, he just couldn't kill that feeling in the back of his head.
What he was afraid of, more than anything, was being judged. Judged by his friends, his teachers, his class, the public, pro heroes.
He feared the crowd. He feared being singled out. He feared being weak. He feared being Deku.
And so, as the class was talking amongst themselves, he just stood and stared at the clock, awaiting the moment of doom.
He might have stared at it all the way until the end, but a conversation suddenly cut through all the talk and silenced everyone else.
Izuku didn't catch the first part of the talk, but he did turn his head and look over at the speaker, who turned out to Todoroki Shoto. The person he was speaking to was Uraraka, who seemed to have been caught on the spot, judging by her confused expression.
"-Stronger than you, more skilled. More capable."
"Um, What?"
"All Might has got his eye on you hasn't he Uraraka?"
It was those words, more than any other that actually managed to wake Izuku's attention. It would seem he wasn't the only one who had put some pieces together.
Like at that lunch that seemed so long ago now, Uraraka's expression became both tense, surprised, and weary at that declaration of connection to All Might.
Todoroki however, seemed uninterested in pushing deeper into that mystery.
"I don't really have any interest in prying deeper into WHY that is, but… I WILL beat you today."
A declaration of challenge.
It got varied responses from the rest of the class.
Some surprise, some comments, but the only one who wanted to play peacemaker was Kirishima.
"Seriously man? Picking a fight now, when we're just about to-" "I don't really care what you think about it." Todoroki interrupted him.
"I'm not here to make friends. Nor will I pretend to be one to anyone here either."
He kept looking at Uraraka with a stoic glare.
The brown-haired girl stared at him for a moment, then fidgeted with her hands a bit, before she finally looked him in the eyes and answered.
"I… I'm not really sure why you decided to challenge me specifically. If you wanted to make a declaration to the strongest person here, that would be Izuku, not me."
A short silence followed, as once again, everyone turned to look at Izuku. This time though, he didn't care.
He just stared at the Uraraka's back, at her long, brown hair that went down over her gym uniform like a lion's mane.
"He's the strongest, and most capable fighter here, by a wide margin. I'm not blind enough to pretend otherwise. You're strong too. Not as strong as Izuku, but you're still a powerhouse. So are Mina and Bakugou."
She turned her head to look out over the class, and Izuku could see her left eye, and he saw it was glowing faintly, with a pink glow.
"This class... Is full of strong people. Not just us at the top."
She turned her head back to look Todoroki in the eyes again.
"BUT even so… I don't plan on losing to either him or you or anyone else either!"
For just a brief moment Izuku caught the glimpse of a bolt of pink energy dancing around Uraraka's fingers. Then it vanished, as she continued.
"I'm going all the way to the top. I don't plan on losing to anyone today. No matter how strong they are."
"Right…"
Izuku kept staring at her, her words echoing in his mind.
He recognized the feeling. It was the same he had felt in the forest. It was the feeling he had felt back when Stick-San had told him could become a hero. It was the feeling of knowing that somebody believed in him. That someone he respected, had an unwavering belief in him and what he could do.
It was an incredible feeling.
The fear of the crowd didn't vanish. But it did lessen substantially.
-Goddamn, you still are way too easy to influence with the smallest words.-
"That's not a bad thing." He muttered as everyone who had still been sitting got on their feet as Iida came to announce it was time to go.
As they walked out into the sunlight, Izuku finally realized something.
He didn't fear losing Uraraka's respect anymore. Instead, he wanted to prove himself worthy of it.