It was the day of the Festival. Izuku was sitting on his bed, excitedly putting on his shoes as he got ready. All the students were told that they didn't need to wear their full uniform, only their Gym uniforms to class before heading out to the stadium for the main events. Izuku finished getting ready, looking in the mirror that Midnight had gifted him. He smiled, knowing that today was the day that he was to prove himself as a future Symbol. He felt One for All swirl around inside him, and knew that he had his family by his side.
He thought about Inko, and how she would likely be watching the Festival. Izuku paused, seeing his expression change into a mournful one, but quickly took some deep breaths and steadied himself, managing to smile despite the few tears pooling in his eyes.
Izuku decided to step out of his room and rip the band-aid off, getting all the teachers that were currently in the lounge, Midnight, Aizawa and Present Mic, to look at him excitedly. He knew that Aizawa looked unaffected most of the time, but he was secretly the most emotional of the bunch when it came to his students. That's what he liked about Aizawa; he cared about each and every one of his students, believing in them wholeheartedly.
"Hey!" Midnight said.
"Good morning, Kayama. How was your weekend?" Izuku asked, sitting on the sofa across from her.
"It was as lonely as ever. You love me though, right?" Midnight asked jokingly.
"Oh, of course!" Izuku said, joining Midnight in laughing like they had told the funniest joke in the world.
After a moment, Izuku thought about how truly grateful he was for the teachers being so understanding about his situation. He supposed it was only natural for Heroes to be so cool about his living situation, but it was still something he hadn't always had, so Izuku was still eternally grateful for their attitudes toward him living on campus.
"Are you excited for the Festival?" Present Mic asked.
"I am! I think that I've made some progress with my Quirk, so I'm eager to show the world what I can do," Izuku said.
"You've jumped from five percent to six percen. That wasn't quite what you wanted, but it's something. You're calling on Blackwhip and Float faster and easier than ever. I'd say you've proved that you're progressing," Aizawa said from the floor.
"I know that I've proved it to you guys, but I want to show the world. I want to look into the cameras and announce that I'm going to be a Hero," Izuku said, leaning back in his seat.
He heard a shuffling on the ground, and looked to see Aizawa standing up. He looked over at Present Mic, who nodded with a serious expression. The two began to walk away, and once they were gone, Izuku looked to Midnight with a confused look.
"They're commentating on the Festival," she explained.
"Together?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah. Mic was the only one doing it to start with, but he kept pestering Shota until he caved. He won't admit it, but he really likes spending time with Mic. I think he just wants to look like a tough, hardened underground Hero, but really he's just a big softie," Midnight said, kicking her feet off the seat like a kid.
"Huh. Do you act differently when you're in costume?" Izuku asked.
"Oh, 'Zuku. Of course I do. We all do, even All Might. We have to act differently because we have certain expectations that need to be upheld," Midnight said, sitting up properly.
"How?" Izuku asked.
"Well … let's talk about the Pro Hero, Midnight. She's sexy, promiscuous and sadistic. She has to be because she has been for a decade. She has to wear extremely thin fabrics so that she can easily use her Quirk, but that's Midnight. Nemuri Kayama? She's a whole different beast. She's smart, she likes to read; she teaches history, for God's sake! Do you get what I mean?" Midnight explained.
"I think I do," Izuku said, furrowing his brow.
"Good," Midnight said, leaning back.
"Which of the two are you now?" Izuku asked.
"I'm always Nemuri with you, kid," Midnight said, ruffling Izuku's hair as she stood up.
"Where are you going? There's still about an hour until the Festival begins," Izuku said.
"Oh, right. I'm refereeing the Festival!" Midnight said, grinning widely as she walked out of the lounge.
Izuku smiled, knowing that Midnight's particular blend of theatricality and earnestness made her the perfect host for the Sports Festival. He waited, quickly ate breakfast and set off, not wanting to be late for possibly the most important event in his career as a Hero. He walked down the halls, despite their still being about half an hour left until he had to be in the classroom.
He had taken to walking around the campus every day before classes started. Izuku liked the feeling of getting to know UA, like he was slowly memorizing the hallways and the routes to get to the different training grounds and classrooms. He liked the feeling of familiarity with something so grand and out of reach, kind of like how he felt with All Might.
As Izuku turned a corner, he bumped into All Might in his true form. The two panicked for a moment, before recognizing the other and smiling. Izuku had been uncomfortable around All Might to start with, but he had opened up to him over the course of his training on the beach. It hadn't been by much, but he was much more comfortable around the behemoth of a man now. That was something.
"All Might!" Izuku said.
"Izuku! Are you excited?" All Might asked.
"Yeah! I'm ready to do what you asked of me. I'm ready to unveil myself as the Symbol of Hope," Izuku said.
"Good. I'll be in the audience, so I'll be able to see all the great things you can do now," All Might said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Right," Izuku said, suddenly feeling a lot more nervous.
The two went their separate ways after that, All Might heading toward the teachers' lounge and Izuku heading toward the classroom. As Izuku walked, he wondered if Ochako was going to be watching the Festival. It was reasonable, as he knew that Ochako didn't really have much to do other than lounge around and rest. Ochako was practically done healing, and she could even return to school immediately after the Festiva, so Izuku bet that she was developing a bit of cabin fever.
As he arrived at the classroom, Izuku found Yaoyorozu sitting in her seat alone. He walked in and waved at his Vice Representative, who smiled and waved back. Izuku walked over to his own seat, two forward from Yaoyorozu's, and sat down backwards to let him talk to her.
"Good morning, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu said.
"Good morning. How was your weekend?" Izuku asked.
"It was enjoyable. Yours?" Yaoyorozu answered.
"Fine. I've had this giddy feeling for a few days. It's probably because of the Festival," Izuku said.
"Everyone's excited, even if they aren't participating. The Business Course students are using it to practise weighing pros and cons of Hero Course students and calculate their worth," Yaoyorozu said, giggling lightly.
"That's kinda … cold, don't you think?" Izuku asked, a disgusted expression crossing his face.
"Yes, it is," Yaoyorozu said, the same expression as Izuku on her own face.
The door opened behind Izuku, and he turned to see Shinso walking through the door. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink, and Izuku immediately went to ask him if he was okay. Shinso must have seen him take a breath, because he put up a hand to silence Izuku as he sat down between him and Yaoyorozu.
"I know. I get it. I should've slept, and yes, I am tired, but no, I couldn't sleep. This stupid Sports Festival has been keeping me up," Shinso said, before yawning for a solid ten seconds straight.
"I was gonna say that I understand. The Festival has everyone excited, and not just the students. The whole country's gonna be watching us today, so it's understandable that you're a little nervous," Izuku said.
"Oh. Alright," Shinso said sheepishly.
After that, students began to pile in, everyone being ready to begin possibly their most daunting challenge yet, publicly announcing themselves as the next generation of peace keepers. As Hagakure sat down, visible due to the Invisi-Pad fastened around her wrist, Izuku approached.
"How does it feel being visible?" Izuku asked.
"Oh, it's fantastic! I went home and my parents cried for hours! This morning on the train, I got complimented on my hair. It's the gift that keeps on giving, and I have you to thank!" Hagakure said.
Izuku just now looked at Hagakure's hair, and he was surprised by just how much she had cleaned it up since Friday. It was wavy, clearly washed very well. It stretched to about her mid back, and was wavy right down to the ends. It was shiny, too, much more than it had been when he last saw her. He had the urge to compliment it as well, so he understood how the random people on the train had felt.
"That's great!" Izuku said, smiling brightly along with Hagakure.
Izuku could tell that Hagakure wasn't saying everything she felt. It must've been a downside of being invisible her whole life; she was terrible at hiding her emotions, and wore them on her sleeve, just like her retaining her exaggerated mannerisms due to her having to work to be noticed for most of her life. It was great that she could be seen now, but Izuku could tell that it would take some time for her quirks to flatten out into what her personality should have always been.
"What's wrong?" Izuku asked.
"Nothing, I just … I wish that I could help you in some way as repayment," Hagakure said, looking away.
"Oh, that's fine. The best way you could thank me is to get noticed in the Festival. There's gonna be a moment where you shine, maybe literally, and getting the recognition you deserve is almost inevitable from that point. That's what you can do to thank me," Izuku said.
"Thanks, Midoriya. Oh, hey! Have you, uh, told anyone yet?" Hagakure asked, looking around to check if anyone was listening to them.
"Uh, no. I just haven't really had a good opportunity. I thought that I was going to tell Uraraka, but the moment kind of passed by without me acting on it," Izuku said.
"That's the kind of stuff that'll get you nowhere, dude! What's going on with you and Uraraka, by the way?" Hagakure asked.
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked back.
"Well, everyone thinks you guys are going out. I know you're not, but you've gotta admit, you two would be pretty cute together," Hagakure said.
"Oh. Uh, I don't know. I think she's … great. She's smart and funny and capable, and she's cute, but … I don't know. I thought I liked her, but you helped me work out that I'm … asexual has made me reconsider things. Both can't be right, can they?" Izuku explained.
"Both can absolutely be right. There's such a thing as 'romantic asexual'. I think that it's good for you to work this out, so don't shut yourself off from any feelings you may have. I've known people who can't accept that two things can be true, and the confusion wore them down until they rejected both sides," Hagakure said, patting Izuku on the shoulder comfortingly.
"Thanks. I'll … think about it," Izuku said, walking toward his own seat to think.
He knew he did feel something for Ochako, and that it definitely wasn't anything sexual, but he didn't know what it was. At first, he had thought it was admiration for her happy-go-lucky attitude and her aspirations. Then, he thought it was interest in her Quirk for its many applications. Now, though, he had no idea what to make of his feelings. They could be romantic, but he had a hard time melding that with his view of his asexuality, which was so fresh in his mind. He was figuring out so many things about himself, from his Quirks to his sexuality, that it was mind-boggling to take a step back and try to look at it as one picture.
Izuku was brought out from his thoughts by Yaoyorozu tapping him on the shoulder and showing him the time on her phone, telling him that it was time to go. He hopped up, remembering it was his duty to get the class organized, and ran to the front in a frantic fashion.
"Uh, it's time we head over to our prep room, so we should go and do that!" Izuku said, his voice breaking.
Some people laughed at him, but everyone began to walk toward the massive stadium just off UA's main campus that was solely for hosting athletic events such as the Sports Festival. As the class walked, they eventually joined up with Class-1B, and the two classes walked side by side with each other for quite some time, until a blond boy with grey eyes and an odd smile approached Izuku and started to talk.
"So, you're the famed Class-1A's Rep! You don't look like much, but then again, none of you really do. I suppose I should introduce myself, shouldn't I?" the boy rambled.
"No thanks," Izuku said, keeping his eyes in front of him.
"I'm-huh? What?" the boy faltered.
"If you're gonna be this weird … mix between passive-aggressive and just aggressive-aggressive toward me and my friends, then I'm gonna have to ask you to leave us alone. I'm sure you're powerful and cool, but right now you're coming off as insecure, so don't try to take that out on my class," Izuku said.
The boy walked away, with classes A and B watching with awed expressions. Class-A had never seen the side of Izuku that could hand out a serving of real-talk like that, and Class-B had likely never seen someone turn away what looked like one of their more well respected members in such a heartless way. Izuku didn't like talking like that, he just knew that if he let the boy talk, someone's feelings were going to get hurt, and it was his duty to protect his classmates in all aspects.
"Sorry about Monoma. He's got a few screws loose," Kendo said, catching up to Izuku from behind.
"It's fine. I just didn't want him to insult me or my class again. Someone was gonna get hurt in that situation, and it was gonna be him," Izuku said.
"Yeah. He has issues with thinking before he does stuff," Kendo said, smiling nervously.
"Some would say I have the same issue," Izuku laughed.
"I'd be inclined to agree. From what you told me about the USJ Incident, you're quite the impulsive one," Kendo said, grinning.
"Yeah. Uh, are you ready for our speech?" Izuku asked, changing the subject.
"You bet! I'm so excited! I gotta say; we wrote one hell of a speech!" Kendo said.
"We did! I gotta say, it's pretty good," Izuku said, grinning along with Kendo.
The students walked toward the stadium, and soon had to separate into their separate classes as they came upon their different preparation rooms.
In Class-1A's prep room, Izuku spotted Todoroki glaring at him from across the room. He had been giving Izuku strange looks for weeks, ever since the USJ Incident. He guessed it had been his display of his true power, but it seemed to run deeper than that. This was something that was personal, almost. Izuku had wanted to talk to Todoroki about it for a while, but hadn't found a proper moment outside of class time, as they didn't exactly talk much. Todoroki didn't talk much.
"Todoroki. If I have something on my face, can you please tell me?" Izuku said, stepping toward the taller boy.
"You're connected to All Might in some way," Todoroki said, without prompting.
"Wha-?" Izuku faltered.
"Don't try to deny it; we all see how All Might pulls you aside at every opportunity to talk. I'm not going to pry into why that is, but your connection to All Might, as well as your similar power level, parallels my connection with Endeavour," Todoroki said.
"Where are you going with this?" Izuku asked.
"Speaking about raw power, I'm better than you. Speaking about raw potential, however, you're clearly superior. If I beat you, then I'll show my old man that I can surpass All Might using only my left side," Todoroki said, glaring harshly at Izuku.
"Why is that necessary? Why can't I be my own person, and you yours? I won't pretend to get why you're trying to put this plot on me, but I'm not gonna take it. You may want to take me down specifically, but don't discount our classmates. We're all trying our best, so watch out for all of us," Izuku said, clenching his fists tightly.
"Why the declarations of war? Why can't we all just have a good time today?" Hagakure asked.
"'War' is a pretty good way to describe this whole thing, isn't it? We're all fighting for the top spot, and we need to go all out if we wanna win. We should be treating each other like threats to our futures, right? That's the point of this damn event," Bakugo said, sitting in a corner alone.
"We're a class! We should never turn on each other, right?" Ashido asked.
"I think that both Todoroki and Bakugo are right," Izuku said, not breaking his eyes away from Todoroki.
"What?" the class shouted in unison.
"We're all aiming for the top, so we need to think of each other as obstacles, not as our friends. Each and every person in this room is an enemy today, and we need to start thinking like it. When we go out there, we're competing for the attention of the whole country, not some silly medallion. We are fighting for our very futures, like Bakugo said, and we need to fight with all our power," Izuku said.
The members of 1A looked around at each other, emboldened by Izuku's short speech. Izuku kept his eyes on Todoroki, though, who kept his eyes on Izuku in return.
"So Todoroki, don't you dare use only half your power on me during the Festival. I want you to come at me with both your ice and your fire, because I won't be holding back," Izuku said.
Izuku walked away from Todoroki, feeling his point had been made. He walked about halfway across the room before seeing the clock, and noticing that it was time for them to go, time for the Festival to begin.
The class walked with him, making their way through the halls until they reached an exit. Midnight was welcoming the audience to the UA facility, and when she spotted the students lined up at the mouth of the hall, she grinned and called the students out, signalling them to enter the stadium.
Izuku stepped out into the light, and the crowd in the stands went into a frenzy, getting their first look at the Hero Course first year students. Yaoyorozu followed him, then Bakugo, then Shinso, and the members of Class-1A all followed each other into the spotlight, and soon the entire class was out in the sunlight. The students walked across the field, Izuku smiling proudly as he walked with his back straight and his head held high. He had watched a lecture on how to appear confident, and had practiced over the weekend.
As Izuku stopped at his designated point, his classmates lined up beside and behind him. The class came to a rest in a line of five with a total of four lines. The other classes lined up in an identical fashion, and waited for Midnight to continue her introduction. She approached the microphone on her stage again.
"Now, welcoming you to this year's Sports Festival, Izuku Midoriya of Class-1A and Itsuka Kendo of Class-1B!" Midnight cheered, stepping to the side of the podium that held the microphone.
Izuku began to walk toward the stage at his cue. He joined up with Kendo just before the steps leading up to the platform, letting her go up the steps first, getting a distant 'aww' from the audience. He had to duck his head to hide the light blush that crossed his face at the audience's reaction to his politeness, but quickly shook it off as he grabbed the wireless microphone that Kendo handed him.
"Hello, everyone. As Midnight just said, my name is Izuku Midoriya, and I'm the Representative for Class-1A. About two weeks ago, my class and I were attacked by Villains. We had expected a run of the mill rescue training class, but we ended up having to save ourselves. Nobody should have to experience the kind of primal fear we did in that place, but it happened. I don't want your sympathy, and I don't want your condolences. I want you to know something; we aren't traumatized. We're motivated. Contrary to popular belief, my classmates and I haven't been irreparably psychologically damaged from that attack; we've been filled with resolve to do better, train harder and get stronger for the next time we meet that kind of threat, so that we'll be ready. We faced true evil, but we beat it back. We're UA, and we're going to Go Beyond, Plus Ultra style!" Izuku said, raising his fist to mimic All Might's famous victory pose.
The crowd cheered for Izuku's part of the speech, and he backed away from the podium to let the focus go toward Kendo. She gave him a discreet thumbs up behind her back, and smiled at the audience, waiting for them to calm down enough for her to be heard. Izuku had thought it was a pretty good message, that they were going to be trying their best to overcome the kind of threats they had faced at such a young age, but he had felt like it would be too harsh. Apparently, he had been on the right track, as the audience had eaten it up.
"After that, you might be thinking something like 'What could this girl say that he hasn't?', right?" I'm not going to lie to you, I wasn't there. I'm the Class Representative for 1B, Itsuka Kendo. When we heard the news of an attack, we were appalled. We didn't know that anyone was even capable of breaking into our school, but it was a rude awakening. It drove us to train harder, so that we may be able to help in another time of need. We missed the attack this time, but next time, we'll be there, and that'll be the end of it," Kendo said.
The two of them walked off the stage, joining the rest of their classes. They gave each other a small fist bump as they split paths, and Izuku smiled knowing that he had such a good friend in Kendo. He was lucky that they got along, and that Kendo wasn't similar to the way Bakugo had acted before UA. He didn't think he'd be able to handle working with Bakugo, but with a strength enhancement Quirk instead.
Midnight approached the microphone again, the crowd still roaring their thoughts on the speech. It was short, but Izuku and Kendo thought that it portrayed their thoughts on the attack and on the Festival quite clearly. They were Going Beyond, and nobody was going to stop them.
"Well, what a start! Now for the choosing of the first event!" Midnight said, walking toward a large blue wheel with colored segments.
Midnight spun the wheel, aptly named the 'Wheel of Misfortune', which looked to be filled with painful, yet entertaining, ways to eliminate participants from the Festival. None of them looked like too much difficulty, Midnight likely having three wheels to choose from. The Festival always followed the same general format; free for all, team battle, one on one fight. The specifics changed from year to year, but the vague outline remained the same.
"Obstacle Race!" Midnight cheered, the wheel landing on a yellow segment.
The screens at the top of the stadium turned on, then, and displayed the words 'Obstacle Race'. The screens then switched to the outside of the stadium, which was already set up as an Obstacle Race. Izuku realized that the events may be less random than UA led people to believe, and he could see by the look on his classmates' faces that they were thinking the same thing.
"First up is the Bot-Mitzvah! Runners will navigate around robots designed to exterminate them! Be careful!" Midnight said, accompanied by shots of the same robots from the entrance exam on the screens above her.
"Then, runners will cross The Fall. A hundred meter drop under a thin web of cables and platforms!" Midnight continued, supplied with some more shots of the stage she was describing, extremely thin cables connected to small islands made of rock.
"Finally, those who survive this long will have to cross The Minefield! These mines won't hurt you, but they'll pack a punch and send you flying into next week!" Midnight yelled, accompanied by shots of regular ground, though there were a lot of bumps across the field that Izuku presumed were the tells for where the mines were located.
Izuku heard a few nervous whispers of curses around him, but he held his ground and kept the confident face he had been maintaining the whole time. Izuku reasoned that he could get past all of the stages of the race fairly easily, but he was worried about how other students, namely Todoroki and Bakugo, would interfere with his progress.
"All participants, make your way to the starting line and wait for the signal to begin," Midnight said, and the students began to make their way to the white line running across the entrance to a short tunnel.
Izuku walked over to the starting line, and fell into step with Todoroki, who glared at him like he had kicked the boy's dog. Bakugo was also eyeing the two of them warily, and that was what told Izuku that this was going to be difficult. He stopped next to Yaoyorozu, who was tying her hair back into a more functional ponytail.
"That was a nice message," Yaoyorozu said.
"Thanks. Kendo came up with most of it," Izuku said, and Yaoyorozu's smile dropped.
Izuku remembered how Kendo had, almost aggressively, flirted with Yaoyorozu almost every time they spoke to each other. He had found it amusing how flustered Yaoyorozu would get every time Kendo hit on her, but had quickly switched to trying to help Kendo learn to tone it down when she wanted to talk to Yaoyorozu.
"What's wrong?" Izuku asked.
"Nothing. It's … Kendo. I'm not sure if I like how forward she is," Yaoyorozu said, going through stretches.
"Is that it? Or are you not sure if you like the way she compliments you?" Izuku asked, going through some similar stretches.
"Maybe. What if Kendo is simply flirty, but not really interested in me? What if I'm blowing it out of proportion, assuming things are happening by reading too far into little things?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Yaoyorozu, I'm sure that if you just talked to Kendo about this, she'd simmer down and talk it out with you. I'm fairly sure that she does really like you. She's certainly tried to make it clear," Izuku laughed, flexing his arms while switching One for All on and off as quickly as he could in his arms.
"I know! This is all so confusing! I've never liked a girl like this before. What am I supposed to do?" Yaoyorozu said.
"I think you just have to work it out. Unless you ask for help, you're not gonna find any. I suggest trying to talk to Kendo and see if you feel anything more," Izuku said, finishing up his preparation.
"Thank you, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu said, stepping away to think about some things.
Izuku looked around, seeing all of his classmates getting ready for the event. He was glad to see everyone so fired up for the Festival, as the class had been less than enthusiastic at the beginning of their training. As Izuku, Todoroki and Bakugo, as well as a few others, had thrown themselves into the preparation for the huge event, some other classmates had stagnated in terms of growth, not really being too excited for the Festival.
He nodded to a few of his closer friends among the class, with them nodding back with confident smirks on all their faces. Izuku liked being around the excited air of competition, having lacked it in his childhood. During Gym classes, Izuku had always been bullied out of participating, so it was fun now to be able to prove himself capable. He already knew he could be a Hero, a great one, even, but he was going to prove it to the world, and nothing would get in his way.
"Okay! The first event of the first years' Sports Festival, the Obstacle Race, will begin in three …" Midnight announced.
Izuku looked to his right, locking eyes with Todoroki, and to his left, meeting Bakugo's eyes. He was smiling, despite his nerves, and he wasn't going to stop, even if he felt like shrinking under everyone's gazes.
" … two …" Midnight continued.
A small amount One for All flooded Izuku's legs, Bakugo's palms crackled with barely contained explosions, and the air around the kids dropped by around ten degrees. Izuku knew that everyone was ready, and all that was holding them back was Midnight's countdown. He closed his eyes, raising the level of OFA's power being pumped into his legs to his safe limit, six percent.
" … one! GO!" Midnight yelled, and the Obstacle Race began.