Chapter 18

"WEEEEEELCOOOOOOME TO…THE FINAL ROUND!" Present Mic practically screamed into the mic, which was answered with a tidal wave of cheers from the colossal audience, "On one side, we have the guy who's gone against monumental obstacles and emerged victorious! He came first in the Obstacle Race, and again in the Cavalry Battle! He's the manipulator of matter and a dreamer of equality! Give it up for…MIDORIYA IZUKU!" Izuku could almost feel the ground shaking as the crowd cheered for him, and a wave of anxiety washed over him. Everyone in Japan was watching him, including The Boss and Irinaka. If he failed here…no, he had to win, there was no room for failure now. "VERSUS! He's remained in the top ranks consistently through the day! He's got plenty of bark, and more than enough bite to back him up! Just like Midoriya, he's climbed all the way to the top! Lend a voice to…BAKUGOU KATSUKI!" Another wave of cheers and shouts crashed throughout the stadium, but Izuku noticed that it was slightly less intense than it had been for him, which meant that in this battle, more people were probably expecting Izuku to win. And god if that wasn't an anxiety-inducing thought to have. He decided to look over at Bakugou, who was scowling.

"De- Brocc…you," Bakugou opted to say, getting Izuku's attention, "I will destroy you, got it?" Izuku smiled shakily and stared down at his opponent. Bakugou's scowl deepened when Izuku didn't respond, and he let out a few explosions as if to back up his point. But Izuku…he wouldn't be, couldn't be afraid of Bakugou anymore. Because he was stronger. He was smarter. And he had a hell of a lot more to lose than Bakugou did.

"Are you boys ready?" Midnight asked. Bakugou grunted, and Izuku gave a thumbs up as he lowered himself slightly, hands reaching down to the ground. Midnight flicked her whip, "in that case, let the fight begin!" Instantly, Bakugou rocketed towards Izuku, who quickly slapped a hand to the ground to create a mass of spikes in Bakugou's direction.

'Bakugou seems to prefer large, open areas, seeing as it allows him greater mobility,' Izuku thought, removing the spikes before already editing the arena once again, this time creating thick pillars around the battleground, 'This didn't really work last time, but he doesn't have any support gear this time,'

"And Midoriya starts by trying to make a Bakugou Kebab, which Bakugou easily avoids! But why is he making all these pillars?!" Present Mic questioned. Izuku heard Bakugou, and quickly spun around to intercept Bakugou, swiping at the boy as he failed to finish his sneak attack. Izuku was surprised that Bakugou seemed to be using actual tactics and wasn't simply using brute force like he'd expected.

"Isn't it obvious? He's attempting to limit Bakugou's mobility, as that's possibly his greatest strength against someone like Midoriya," Aizawa grumbled. Izuku grimaced as he saw Bakugou begin destroying some pillars; it seemed like he'd learnt from last time.

'I have to end this quickly. The main reason Kendo lost is because she let the match go on too long,' Izuku thought to himself, pressing his hand to the ground, and clearing the battlefield, momentarily surprising Bakugou before Izuku once again created spikes, forcing Bakugou to escape into the air. What he hadn't been expecting, however, was a pillar to erupt behind him and aim for his arms. While He managed to dodge it at the last second, he still got hit in the foot relatively hard by the looks of it, which was good.

"Shitty nerd, gotta rely on cheap tricks just to beat me?!" Bakugou yelled, rocketing towards Izuku, who quickly erected a wall to block him.

"You make it sound like cheap tricks are bad," Izuku snarked, trying to rile Bakugou up, "Are you just too stupid to use them and that's why you hate them?" It worked, as a scream of rage could be heard, and the entire wall exploded. Luckily, Izuku had hid behind the lowest part of the wall, lying on his stomach to avoid the blast. With his hand on the ground, Izuku tried to discreetly spike Bakugou in his arms, but that plan went to bust when Bakugou picked him up by his jacket collar and chucked him across the stadium with an explosion.

"OH! AND BAKUGOU PITCHES A HOME RUN!" Mic joked as Izuku rolled across the ground, barely managing to create a wall to stop himself. He looked over at Bakugou, only to see the blonde teen exploding over to Izuku, who managed to roll backwards and get on his feet, avoiding the explosion narrowly. He slammed his hand to the ground, creating a mass of pillars to force Bakugou away, allowing Izuku a chance to collect himself.

'Shit, that was close. He's gonna beat me at this rate,' Izuku thought, before he proceeded to have an idea. Was it risky? Yeah, but if it worked, it would be perfect. Grinning, Izuku pressed his hand to the ground. Looked like it was time to give this arena a makeover.

"What the f- uh, I mean, what's the brat doing?" Nemoto questioned, the missing pinky on his hand more than a good enough reminder to not swear in front of Eri again. Or ever, really.

"He's making houses! Are people going to live in there?" Eri asked, looking up at The Boss, who mocked a look of intense focus; despite him being a hardened Yakuza boss, he was a family man at heart.

"Maybe, Eri. Would you want to live in there?" The Boss asked Eri. Eri thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

"No thanks, I like this house," If The Boss hadn't already had a daughter before, he would have cried from how adorable Eri was being. However, this wasn't the time for that, as they were watching his adopted son do whatever the hell he was doing, which was currently building houses.

"And Midoriya is…making houses?" Present Mic questions, causing Eraserhead to hum.

"Looks more like cubes with doorways to me but sure whatever," He says in his usual sarcastic way. Bakugou, meanwhile, is tearing through every building in an attempt to find Izuku, making sure to check the rubble while he's at it, even if it's a very barebones check. He keeps doing this for a couple more houses, further confusing everyone.

"What's the kid's plan? Did he run away or something?" Irinaka asks. The Boss is inclined to agree. Finally, however, Bakugou reaches the last house and blows it up, and he reaches down to search through the rubble.

But then a hand reached out from the rubble.

Izuku grinned when he grabbed the fabric of Bakugou's jacket, and he pulled on it, forcing Bakugou down, who was still too shocked to respond. Izuku then disassembled the rubble covering him, grabbing both of Bakugou's arms and disassembling them, eliciting a cry of pain from the boy before his arms reassembled, forearms and palms connected so he couldn't use his quirk.

"I've won," Izuku decreed, before grabbing Bakugou and lifting him above his head. To his credit, Bakugou continued kicking and thrashing around, trying to escape Izuku's hold, but it was useless. Izuku could barely feel where he was being hit, the pain of it generally being inconsequential compared to healing himself. Eventually, Izuku carried Bakugou over to the edge, and with one last throw, Bakugou was out-of-bounds.

"Bakugou is out of bounds! Midoriya Izuku is the winner of the 1st Year Sports Festival!" The crowd erupted in cheers at Midnight's declaration, and Izuku froze. He'd won? He'd won. He'd won! He joined the cheers as well, raising his arms in celebration as Bakugou let out a scream of rage. He'd done it. He'd surpassed Bakugou, and he'd never let him beat him again. He looked up into the stands, smiling ever more when he spotted Reiko, Kurono, Itsuka, Momo and Tokoyami cheering for him as well. Hell, he even spotted Monoma and Shinsou looking happy for him, which was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

Izuku had won, and it felt good.

"WHOO! IN YOUR FACE, LOSERS! IZUKU WON!" Kurono whooped, skipping around in a circle with Reiko, causing the 1-A stall to groan in unison.

"Yeah, we get it, we're idiots, so can you shut up?" Kaminari asked. Kurono mockingly thought for a moment.

"I would keep going, but I have some bets to collect. Remember, kids, gambling at 15 is illegal, unless you don't get caught!" And with that, Kurono was off, skipping down the halls to collect a most likely massive amount of money. For some reason, Itsuka had the feeling he'd managed to make everyone think Izuku wasn't much of a big deal before the Sports Festival so that he'd be the only one betting on him. It was the kind of stupidly smart thing that idiot would do.

"Well, are we gonna go congratulate Izuku or are we just gonna stay here?" Kendo asked. Tokoyami shook his head, and Momo politely declined, saying that she'd prefer to watch from the stalls, so it was just Reiko and Kendo walking there. Eventually, they ran into Izuku as he was being escorted down the halls by Ectoplasm.

"Ah, there you two are. Come on, we need to prepare you for the award ceremony," Ectoplasm stated, turning back around to presumably head to the awards area. Kendo and Reiko jogged a bit to catch up and were soon striding next to each other.

"Congratulations, Izuku! Can't believe you won!" Itsuka congratulated, which Izuku gave a thanks to.

"Your performance was truly a spectacle, Izuku. Tricking Bakubitch into that trap was a glorious move only yourself could have planned," Reiko complimented, which flustered Izuku, causing him to look away a bit so that they couldn't see his face.

"T-thank you, Reiko-," Izuku replied, before he suddenly seemed to realize something, "Wait, did you call Bakugou Bakubitch?" Reiko chuckled, a small smile on her lips.

"Maybe~," She replied, a light blush dusting her cheeks pink as she looked at Izuku. Kendo would have said something about them being whipped, but seeing as there was a teacher right in front of them, she decided against it. Actually, she wondered what Ectoplasm was thinking about the interaction behind him?

They eventually reached the room, which was under the arena. They could see 3 pillars as well, with the tallest being 1st, 2nd being the second tallest and 3rd being last. Bakugou was already there, but surprisingly enough, he wasn't yelling or screaming or, well, anything. He just seemed…dejected. Even when Izuku got up onto the 1st place podium, he didn't even bat an eye. He just stood there, seemingly too focused on whatever was on his mind to even think about Izuku.

Meh, it was probably nothing. And as much as she hoped it so, there was no way he was thinking about anything like if this is what he gets for being an asshole his entire life.

Katsuki was wondering if this was what he got for being an asshole his entire life.

Everything just felt…wrong. He shouldn't be in 2nd place, that would make him a loser, and he'd never lost. Not even once. But today…he'd lost, there was no way of looking at it. Over and over, his mind replayed what Midnight had said.

"Bakugou is out of bounds,"

"Midoriya Izuku is the winner!"

Over and over, he replayed that exact moment, and each time he did he just felt worse and worse. He wanted to lash out at something- no, someone. But he didn't have that privilege anymore. Only the best have any reason to use others to lift themselves upwards. If a loser like he was now tried that, there'd be consequences. People wouldn't think of it as the king asserting his dominance, they'd think of it as a serf committing a crime.

There was simply no such thing as 2nd place. If you weren't 1st, you may as well be last, and that's where he was right now. Izuku was clearly the new king, and wasn't that a weird thought? The kid that he had bullied put in his place back when he was still the best had come to pluck that title from under his feet. He supposed you could call it ironic, in a way. Deserving of a movie, even. The kind that isn't ground breaking, but is just…satisfying, in a way. But, in the context of a movie, with Izuku being the underdog that beats the almighty powerful opponent, wouldn't that make Katsuki the antagonist? Had he…had he been the antagonist his whole life?

No, surely not. And anyways, thinking about real situations in the context of movies is stupid. Katsuki wasn't the evil antagonist, he was simply exerting his right as the best, and soon enough Izuku would do the same as well. That was just how the world worked, according to his teachers. They never directly said it, of course, but it was implied with how they let only him get away with putting down the other kids and nobody else. He still remembered the time he'd exploded some kid with a grasshopper quirk, but when his lackey punched that same kid the teacher came over to reprimand him. They never said anything to Katsuki though, even when that lackey blubbered about how Katsuki hit him first.

Katsuki was jostled out of his thoughts when he felt the platform rising. Honestly, he'd completely forgotten that they were doing this awards ceremony, He felt like he should be angry he had lost, but instead he just felt a bit disappointed in himself. Man, he really needed to talk to All Might about this after their next class, if he didn't immediately run off of course.

"Congratulations to the winners of the 1st Year Sports Festival!" Midnight cheered as they finally stopped ascending, which caused the crowds to begin cheering. That reminded Katsuki of another thing. While he was waiting between rounds, he'd made the mistake of looking at social media, and he saw what everyone had been saying about him and everyone else in the Sports Festival, and for the first time ever, people were laughing at him. Criticizing him. Shaming him. It was surreal to say the least, and he'd found himself quickly switching it off to read a romance fanfic he'd been reading earlier. It had done little to distract him from the truth that he wasn't universally beloved anymore.

Of course, he'd been prepared to have haters once he became a Pro Hero. Hell, even All Might has haters somehow, it'd be ridiculous to assume Katsuki wouldn't have them as well. But he'd always assumed they'd appear later, and that most of them would be petty villains, not during his 1st year from upstanding citizens.

Katsuki froze when he heard All Might appear, and when he looked up, he saw that he was grabbing medals from Midnight. Was he giving out the awards? Honestly, he hadn't been listening; not like it mattered what Midnight was saying when he'd lost. He watched the absolutely massive Hero walk up to…uh, what were their names? Eh, Yaoi Hands and Ghost would do for now. He gave them their medals, along with some words of encouragement and a heavy hand on their shoulders. He finished there, and Katsuki held his breath as the Number 1 Hero approached him, a silver medal in his hands.

"Young Bakugou," All Might started, his deep voice demanding Katsuki's attention, "You performed exceptionally well during today's Sports Festival! You came so very close to winning, and I am sure you're proud of that-,"

"It doesn't matter," Katsuki muttered suddenly, confusing All Might, "If you aren't 1st, you may as well be last, All Might," All Might was silent at that, and he instead chose to put the medal over Katsuki's neck. But then he surprised Katsuki by hugging him. It wasn't a bone crushing bearhug by any means. In fact, it was quite comfortable despite it being from a man over 2 meters tall and built like a brick wall.

"Young Bakugou," All Might said, in a much softer, more comforting voice, "I want you to understand that just because you were not the winner does not mean you are a loser. Tell me, is Endeavour a loser? Or Young Hawks?" Katsuki went to say yes, but then he considered what All Might had said. He couldn't really call Endeavour a loser, could he? Sure, he was 2nd, but he still saved loads of people, hell, he saved more people than All Might, arguably. And Hawks was so young, but he was already climbing the ranks like crazy, and had even set up his own agency from the start. He couldn't really call him a loser either, could he?

So, if people weren't losers even if they weren't the best, then what made people losers?

"…No," Katsuki replied. He felt All Might squeeze a bit tighter before letting go.'

"Exactly, Young Bakugou. So, remember that, got it?" Katsuki nodded, and All Might left to give Izuku his medal. Katsuki looked at his medal. Honestly, he'd been planning to dump it as soon as he got the chance. After all, who would want to show off that they came 2nd? But, after what All Might said, he wasn't so sure about that. He'd said to 'remember that', hadn't he? Maybe…maybe this medal didn't have to signify that Katsuki was a loser.

Maybe it could signify something more.

Izuku was shaking when he saw All Might walk up to where he was. Even if he'd seen the man nearly every day for 10 months in a row, he was still a sight to behold when in his muscle form. He towered over Izuku, making his measly 5'5" stature look like chump change compared to his 7'2" height. And that wasn't even including his muscles, Izuku was reminded of something he'd read where someone wondered if you could grate cheese on All Might's muscles. Izuku thought it was stupid then. Now, however? He could 100% see what they meant.

"Finally, Young Midoriya," All Might started, the golden medal in his hands slightly held out, "You have gone above and beyond in today's Festival, scoring 1st place in every round. You showcased teamwork, creativity, and skill, and for that you have climbed your way to the top, becoming a Symbol of Victory to those watching.

"Your speech at the start of this Festival already won over the hearts of Japan, with discussions about quirkless and mutant discrimination peaking after what you said about treating others not for their past or quirk, but for their qualities as a person. And because of that, I know you will become one of the greatest heroes that Japan- no, the world has ever seen, and I am honoured to be the one to award you this medal," All Might finished by putting the medal over Izuku's neck, and then further surprising him by giving him a hug. He could feel tears leaking out of his eyes at the emotions of the moment, but he then realized something strange.

"Wait, why did you hug Bakugou and I, but not Reiko and Itsuka?" Izuku asked, causing All Might to chuckle slightly.

"It's, uh, well, just a fear I've had since I became a hero that I'll somehow accidentally end up in some scandal about sexual harassment for hugging a girl, so I generally stick to hands on shoulders there," All Might muttered, making Izuku chuckle. And with that, All Might stepped back down next to Midnight, and he raised his arm up high.

"CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS!" All Might shouted.

"Plus Ultra!" The crowd shouted at the same time. There was an awkward silence, and Izuku even heard someone cough.

"YOU SAID THE LINE WRONG!" The crowd whined, and All Might looked both confused and apologetic. Izuku couldn't help but laugh harder at that, and he could hear Itsuka and Reiko as well. And as he heard Reiko's small chuckle, he couldn't help but notice his heart skip a beat.

"Alright, Todoroki, you sure you want to do this?" Izuku asked, his hand hovering just above Shoto's head as Kurono watched in anticipation. Shoto nodded.

"Absolutely. Anywhere is better than his place," And with the confirmation he needed, Izuku placed his hand on Todoroki's head and began to shift things around, changing the colours of things here and there and the shape of parts there and here. When he took his hand away, Shoto looked like a completely new person. His hair was now completely white and was longer (Izuku didn't like thinking about where he got the extra hairs from) and was swept to the left. His scar was also gone, along with his heterochromatic eyes, which were now just grey. His chin was a bit more squared, and his eyebrows were thicker. In other words…

"Huh, you really could pass off as my cousin," Kurono commented, checking Todoroki out for himself.

"Just to be sure, you can definitely change me back to normal, right?" Todoroki asked. Izuku gave a thumbs up and a smile.

"Have some faith in me, Todoroki! I used to do this all the time when we were younger! Our favourite was pretending we were cousins, but sometimes we just turned ourselves into random people, right Kurono?" Izuku replied, looking at Kurono who nodded as he remembered fond memories from long ago. With Kurono's confirmation, Izuku turned back to Todoroki, "See? Anyways, we should get going now. Come on!" And with that, the trio of boys began making their way home.

"Oh, by the way, we should probably change your name for that form," Izuku mentioned, looking at Todoroki, "Any ideas?" Todoroki thought about it for a moment before replying.

"Todo Shotoroki,"

"On second thought, maybe let's go with Hanta Kurono,"

Kyōsaku sighed as he made his way to the train station. It had been a rather boring patrol, seeing as a lot of people were either working or watching the 1st Year Sports Festival. Burnin', as usual, had been annoyingly loud, and Kyōsaku wondered why Endeavour liked putting him with her on patrols; he'd honestly much rather Kido, or even Endeavour himself.

When Kyōsaku heard his phone ring, he didn't think much of it. It was probably just Koryu asking to hang out or something. What he wasn't expecting, however, was for Futeki to be the one calling him. Usually, they had to call Futeki, so this was definitely strange. Nevertheless, he answered the phone.

"Kyōsaku? Kyōsaku! It's urgent!" Futeki shouted into the phone in an unusually panicked tone of voice. Man, something really bad must have happened.

"What happened?" Kyōsaku asked. The phone was silent on the other end for a moment, "Futeki, tell me what happened," Kyōsaku demanded, which finally elicited a response.

"I-It's Koryu! He was attacked!" Futeki explained. Kyōsaku rolled his eyes. Koryu was a Hero Student, that was to be expected. He'd probably be fine in a week or two, but he'd be upset about missing the Sports Festival for sure.

"How bad is it?" Kyōsaku asked.

"He's…oh, man…Kyōsaku, he's lost his quirk,"

Kyōsaku was silent.

"Which hospital?" He demanded.

"I'm already sending Kemuri to warp you here,"

With that, Kyōsaku hung up, leaving him to his thoughts. And at the top of his list, all he could think about was how can someone lose their quirk? There's no quirk-erasing disease that he knows of, and if there was a villain with the ability to take quirks, surely they'd know about them.

Right?

Bonus

"You know, there's already 400 fanfics featuring you in them," Kurono said suddenly. Izuku paled at the news.

"Oh god…"

"100 of them ship you and I together," Izuku paled even further.

"OH GOD,"

"10 currently have you in a harem with every female competitor," If it was even possible, Izuku paled once again, turning even whiter than snow.

"OH GOD!"

"The most popular fic is a nice fluffy one where you and Yanagi cuddle after playing video games," Colour returned to Izuku's face, and a blush dotted his face at the mere idea of cuddling Yanagi.

"That doesn't sound so bad-,"

"The 2ndmost popular fic has me use my quirk on Itsuka and we violently rape her in the toilets," Depression struck Izuku at that horrible sentence that Kurono strung together.

"Just fucking kill me man,"

"Hell nah, we're suffering together,"