The episode started off with Present Mic giving rapid fire commentary and explaining how all of the video feed was being obtained. In the background, Aizawa wondered if there was a point to him being in the commentary box at all.

"Can't you guess? You are clearly there for moral support!" Mic exclaimed. Aizawa rolled his eyes.

"I'm not even doing anything, and you seem to be doing just fine. You just wanted me there because I'm 1A's homeroom teacher and they've been getting so much media attention."

"Shouta! I would never use you for media purposes! The fact that you might be able to provide insightful commentary later is nothing more than a convenient bonus. Is it so strange that I want to hang out with you?" Mic asked, leaning in to give the other teacher sad puppy dog eyes.

"You're ridiculous. And stop staring at me." Aizawa pushed Mic's face away with one hand. Mic made a show of being put out, but was grinning by the end of it.

Todoroki freezing the robots was shown again, followed by them collapsing to the ground. Among the crowd of students there went up a cry that someone had been under the robots when they collapsed.

"Oh no!" Uraraka gasped.

Izuku quickly looked around the room, to see if anyone was showing any signs of pain. He wasn't the only one, as he noticed the teachers doing the same. Thankfully no one was yelling or screaming or crying...Kirishima looked kinda uncomfortable in his seat all of a sudden though. Bakugo was sending him looks and telling him to 'quit his damn squirming'.

"Ah, I didn't intend for that to happen." Todoroki said.

"Guess you should've given that warning a bit sooner, huh?" Jirou asked flatly.

"Yes, I'll remember that if this event ends up happening in the future." He said. Naturally he expected other hero students to recognize the danger and avoid it, but he should have taken into account how many non-hero course students were there.

After a few moments of panic, someone burst through the ice and frozen metal. That someone was Kirishima, who yelled about how dangerous that would have been for anyone else.

'Hm, seems I had a little too much faith in my classmates.' Todoroki mused. 'He is right though, that was incredibly lucky.'

"Well that explains it! I was wondering why I started to feel so much pressure on my skin after the robots collapsed." Kirishima said.

"You got caught under that robot and your quirk protected you that well?" Sato asked in amazement.

"That's so awesome Kirishima! See! I told you your quirk would be great for hero work!" Midoriya said with a big smile. Kirishima rubbed the back of his head.

"Don't oversell it guys, I just kept myself safe after I managed to get stuck under a robot. I wouldn't call that heroic."

"Protecting yourself is important too. You can't help people if you get hurt yourself." Aizawa reminded.

A moment later, a student from 1B burst out from beneath the bots in the exact same way...and said almost the exact same thing that Kirishima said. Kirishima lamented how similar their quirks were as they ran through the obstacles.

Todoroki looked back and forth between the Kirishima in the room, and the pair running on screen. "Is he your estranged twin?" he asked. Kirishima spluttered.

"What?! No, of course he isn't!"

"A cousin then?"

"Dude, just because our quirks are similar doesn't mean we're related. A lot of people have similar quirks."

"Okay." Todoroki said, though he was far from convinced. It just seemed like such a weird coincidence, two boys the same age with such a similar quirk getting into UA the same year...

One of the non-hero students urged the rest of the group to work together to clear the robots in their path, though his words were quickly drowned out by Bakugo using his quirk to blast himself over the robots.

"You would be the one to immediately dismiss working together." Uraraka grumbled.

"No shit, round face. It's a race, not a team sport!"

Sero and Tokoyami were shown using their own quirks to get over the robots.

"We're getting a lot of close ups in this episode aren't we? Not that I'm complaining of course." Sero said with a grin.

"Indeed." Tokoyami was smiling and patting dark shadow, who was excited to be shown doing something cool on the screen.

"Looking good guys!" Ashido cheered.

The watching teachers noticed how the students from 1A were progressing quickly, like they expected. All Might pointed out that the other students were doing well too, but that 1A had something that set them apart. Aizawa continued the observation by noting how the hardships they faced during the USJ had made the students hesitate less, which gave them an edge.

"My, my, did you two boys just agree on something?" Recovery Girl asked with a sly smile.

"It certainly implies that we did." Yagi said. He turned gave Aizawa a smile. "Maybe we're not so different after all, huh?"

"There's no connection between being similar to each other and being able to recognize cause and affect." Aizawa grumbled. He didn't feel very up to banter with whatever was in his system on-screen.

"That's true I suppose." Yagi's smile turned self-deprecating. But he honestly saw this as a good sign. It was good that he and Aizawa were on the same page when it came to the class his successor was in.

"Hm, I guess this means there's some truth to the saying 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'." Shoji mused.

"I guess so. I wonder how much worse we would have done if we hadn't been attacked." Tsuyu said.

"Huh, I hadn't thought of that." Izuku said, putting a hand to his chin. "And now that we're seeing all of this, we'll have gained even more experience by the time we get to this point in real life. Or, we'll have gained knowledge at least."

"Indeed, it seems we'll end up having an advantage over the other students no matter what." Iida seemed a bit uncomfortable with that revelation.

The focus switched back to Izuku. The boy knew he couldn't use his quirk just yet, and he soon found a way around doing so. He grabbed a sheet of metal armor off the ground and used it as a weapon to take out one of the smaller bots. He kept the sheet as he ran.

"Nicely done Midoriya, your timing was impeccable." Iida praised.

"I agree. You've shown great improvement since the beginning of the school year." Yagi praised.

Aizawa watched while Izuku blushed furiously and waved off the praise of his mentor and friends, and wondered if All Might realized just how fortunate it was that the child who caught his eye for reckless bravery was also a child that was both strategic and quick thinking when he wanted to be.

Large robots started going down ahead, and it was revealed that Momo was taking them out with a canon she made.

"Holy sh-!"

"That's awesome!" Ashido's cheer cut off Kaminari's exclamation.

"Well, that's one way to get yourself noticed." Jirou said with a smirk.

"That was part of my intention, presumably." Mom said with a small smile. "I imagine I also hoped to take care of the rest of that obstacle without myself or others getting hurt. Though perhaps I should have been more sparing, since that let all the other students through too." her voice turned thoughtful at the end.

Kirishima waved off Momo's concern. "Nah man, you made a canon! A canon that was powerful enough to take out the zero-pointers! You gotta show something like that off, go big or go home!"

"Damn straight." Bakugo said with a sharp nod.

"Besides Torodorki already did that, so I think doing it your own way made you stand out more." Izuku said.

The teachers in the stands talked a bit more, and All Might was shown to be keeping a close eye on Izuku and hoping he'd focus on just getting to the next round. Then Mic introduced the next obstacle: The Fall.

"I admit, I am curious to know what UA's back up plan is for if a student were to fall off one of those edges." Tokoyami said.

"Yeah, it seems like that could really hurt someone." Hagakure noted nervously.

"You'd be surprised what the human body can withstand." Nedzu said with a sharp smile.

Recovery Girl saw the looks of horror the students were sending him, and sighed. "We made sure no one would fall to their deaths. Myself and some other officials have to approve the plans for each part of each festival, for safety purposes. From what I recall, the darkness further down is actually an illusion created by one of the faculty who is teaching the older grades this year. It hides all the padding and such down there."

"Indeed. We needed to instill the feeling of danger, but we're hardly going to take such a risk with students lives, especially at such a public event." Nedzu agreed.

The students looked relieved due to what Recovery Girl said, though others still glanced nervously in Nedzu's direction.

Students paused in fear or awe at the site of the obstacle, but Tsuyu didn't hesitate to leap out and start making her way across. While she did so, a student decked out in tech was introduced.

"Who the hell is this extra?" Bakugo grumbled.

"With all that gear, I'd guess she's from the support course." Sero said.

The girl explained how support students could bring in their own inventions to use in the festival, to show off their work to watching support companies. With that she started swinging across the pits with the help of her inventions much to the complaint of Uraraka and Ashido.

"Don't know what you're complaining about. If you can't get your quirk to compete with some goggled girl's tech then what the hell are you doing here?" Bakugo demanded.

"I know, I know." Uraraka said with a sigh. "Her stuff just got her so far along so easily that it feels unfair, you know?"

"Speak for yourself, I don't get any tech to help me, and my quirk is so not going to help me get across those ropes." Ashido whined.

"There will be plenty of times where your quirk will not suit the specific task at hand. Doing what you can to deal with it anyway is part of being a hero." Yagi declared.

Aizawa thought this was somewhat ironic given that All Might had a very versatile quirk, but he agreed with the statement in general so he didn't say anything. Over with the students, Izuku touched his chin thoughtfully.

"Plus, like she said, the hero course has gotten a lot of training that the support course wouldn't. If anyone is truly at a disadvantage here, it's the Gen Ed and Management students. They don't get training, or the ability to bring in inventions."

"Well, the other courses can bring in inventions if they want, but only the support course has access to the labs on campus, so that limits their abilities a bit too." Present Mic explained.

Speaking of the Gen Ed students, the purple haired boy who issued the challenge to 1A was shown watching the other students.

Ojiro frowned. "I don't like the look on his face right now."

"It is kinda creepy." Hagakure agreed.

Todoroki and Bakugo were shown, still clearly in the lead. Iida did his best to get across the ropes while looking 'cool' for his watching brother. He apparently failed since Present Mic loudly declared him to be 'uncool'.

Iida gave Present Mic and affronted look, which made the hero shrug.

"Sorry listener, but that expression kinda ruins it."

"Um, even if it looks awkward, I think its still really cool that you can keep your balance while doing that." Izuku said.

"Yeah, I probably would have fallen off those ropes if I had to use them, and I would be going slower!" Uraraka added. 'I hope I'm able to get enough momentum to float across, without falling behind.'

Their praise mollified Iida enough that he went back to watching.

People in the stands praised Todoroki for his skills and power, and some said it was obviously due to being Endeavor's son.

Todoroki's hands clenched where they rested on his knees. 'Even when only using my ice they keep comparing me to that bastard...'

Izuku was shown making his way across the chasms, still carrying the metal shield.

"Wouldn't that be easier without the extra weight?" Uraraka wondered.

"Well, I don't feel much burn in my muscles, so it must not be that heavy." Izuku said, stretching his arms this way and that. "And it looks like I found a way to secure it, so it makes sense I would bring it. I'd rather have a little trouble with this part than leave it behind and regret not having it later."

Uraraka nodded. Sometimes she forgot just how strong Midoriya had to make himself to inherit One for All.

Inko was shown, quietly urging her son on.

Izuku smiled, touched by how much she was getting into it, even when he wasn't in direct danger.

Still in first, Todoroki was shown making it to the last obstacle: A mine field. Mic explained that the mines themselves were built to be more scary than damaging.

A lot of students let out their breath in relief, or quieted protesting when they heard Mic explain.

"UA sure knows how to toe the line with these things." Sato said, earning a shaky nod from Koda.

Students started going through the mine field, some setting off the mines. Todoroki noted that this part put the lead at a disadvantage, which was likely done to keep things entertaining.

"Naturally, we wouldn't get nearly the air time we do if we didn't know how to keep an audience's attention." Mic said with a smug grin.

Aizawa rolled his eyes. With the way society treated heroes, he was pretty sure they would get the air time either way, but the obstacles always served the purpose of really challenging the students, so it wasn't going to complain. Not much, at least.

Bakugo suddenly came hurdling up, yelling at Todoroki for declaring war on the wrong person and taking the lead. The two fought each other while somehow remaining in the lead.

"Ha! Take that you half and half bastard!" Bakugo shouted, Todoroki gave him a flat look. Both of them were doing a remarkably good job at ignoring the phantom sensations of the other grabbing and pushing them on screen.

"I challenged Midoriya for my own reasons that have nothing to do with you. But I'll certainly give you a fight if you want one."

"I don't give a damn about your reasons, I'm gonna be the one to win!"

Midoriya, who had plenty of experience with ignoring the sounds of Bakugo shouting, just looked thoughtfully at the screen. "This last obstacle is basically perfect for Kaachan, he's used to a lot bigger explosions after all."

"True, but given that he is not in direct control of these explosions I figured he might have a bit more difficulty." Momo mused.

"I guess they both have more awareness than we gave them credit for." Shoji matched her tone.

"Or they are both really good at multitasking, kero."

Izuku arrived at the mine field, and quickly took in the situation. He knew he was far behind, but he wasn't giving up yet.

Bakugo snorted. Like that nerd was actually going to find a way to catch up by the time he and icy hot crossed the finish line...

Meanwhile, Midoriya went into deep thought...

After a quick cut to the rest of the field, Izuku was shown again. He held the metal sheet in front of him, cited Kaachan for his idea, and threw himself onto the ground. The resulting explosion was so large that it made even Bakugo and Todoroki stop and look behind them. A few moments later, Midoriya was seen rocketing toward the front.

The room exploded too, but with noise rather than smoke.

"Oh my god that's awesome!"

"What the heck?!"

"You're crazy!"

"You look so manly!"

"The hell are you thanking me for?"

"How did you even do that?!"

The last cry was the one Izuku answered. "I've got a pretty good idea of what I did, but I won't know for sure until they show it."

"How can you not know when you're the same person looking at the same problem?" Kaminari asked in bewilderment.

"Well, I'm pretty sure the me on screen got more time to think about it. Plus I tend to think faster when I'm actually in those kinds of situations rather than just watching them."

"Isn't that kinda true of everyone?" Kirishima said.

"It's not true for me." Mineta said, slumping in his seat. Kaminari gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder, and Aoyama shrugged.

"We all have our own skills, mon ami."

A quick flashback showed that Midoriya had quickly analyzed the challenge of the minefield, and came up with a plan that allowed him to set off one big explosion that sent him hurtling forward and over the other participants.

"You figured all that out within that small amount of time?" Momo asked, a note of surprise in her voice. Izuku blushed a bit and ducked his head.

"W-well, like I said, I think fast in those types of situations."

"That was really clever Deku!" Uraraka praised.

"I agree, most would not be able to think of such a strategy so quickly, much less be bold enough to attempt it." Iida said. Which made Deku blush even more.

"Looks like you are rising to the challenge quite well, my boy!" All Might praised. Izuku's embarrassment subsided a bit, and he beamed at his mentor's praise.

"Hey! Deku got that dumb idea from me! He just said so!" Bakugo shouted. Kirishima grinned.

"Well, that means your manliness is so intense that it inspired him again!"

"Exactly! He wouldn't be anywhere without me!"

"That's...not what I meant..."

'Yagi was quite lucky to have found someone with such a unique set of traits to become his successor.' Nedzu mused.

"Being willing to take risks to show off what you can do is a big part of the festival. They don't always pay off, but this one looks promising so far." Aizawa noted. Present Mic snickered.

"Honestly, I think the most impressive thing right now is that he managed to aim himself enough to go toward the finish line rather than the starting line."

Izuku soared into first place. His internal thoughts showed things had gone to plan, but that he hadn't accounted for how he would land.

The sounds of palms meeting faces or foreheads sounded throughout the room, much to Izuku's embarrassment. Aizawa sighed.

"Clearly, we still need to work on you thinking things through, problem child."

"But that doesn't take away from the cleverness of the original idea." Yagi said.

"True. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't encourage him acting so recklessly. Wasn't the you that's sitting in the stands just thinking about how you just wanted him to get to the next round?"

"...point taken."

Bakugo and Todoroki stopped fighting each other and focused on rushing after Midoriya. Midoriya himself started to lose speed and altitude. Thinking fast, he slammed his metal shield into the ground setting off another explosion. He flew past the two leads once again, until he tumbled and skidded onto the ground. He quickly got up and started running.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, finding himself impressed once again. "I stand by what I just said, but it seems that so far he's got plenty of quick thinking to make up for his lack of thorough thinking."

"Indeed!" All Might wore a proud smile.

Todoroki and Bakugo both jumped when they felt pressure in the square of their back. It didn't take long to figure out it came from the stance Midoriya used to swing down his shield.

"Deku..." Bakugo growled, low and dangerous. "Did you just use me as an actual stepping stone?!"

Midoriya didn't respond right away, as he was distracted by the sensation of his on-screen self rolling hard across the ground. "U-um, ow! uh, kinda? Ow! I mean, no! I would never! You just, uh, made convenient leverage?" Izuku winced as he said the last line, and Bakugo's snarl became livid.

"Dude, chill, you can't tell me you wouldn't have done the exact same thing in his place." Kirishima pointed out. Bakugo turned his snarl on him instead, but found he couldn't deny the accusation. Turning his head also made him see the warning look Aizawa was sending him. After a couple tense moments, he huffed and turned back to Midoriya.

"Watch your fucking step Deku, or next time it'll be my foot in your back, got it?"

"Loud and clear, Kaachan!"

Midoriya ran for the finish line, with Todoroki and Bakugo hot on his trail.

The students leaned forward in anticipation, wondering who would make it through first.

Present Mic commentated on the turn of events, and asked Aizawa what he'd been teaching these kids. Aizawa responded that the kids themselves were the ones responsible for pushing themselves like this. The finish line was shown, with Izuku being the first to run across it.

The students cheered along with the crowd, with Yagi and Present Mic joining in. The exceptions were Todorki, who merely frowned, and Bakugo, who stared daggers at Midoriya while thinking 'Don't get comfy Deku, I'm coming for first place.'

"Congratulations Deku!" Uraraka cheered, holding out her hand for a high five. Though he was once again blushing at everyone's praise, he grinned and gave her one. Then gave Iida one right after.

"Okay, everyone be quiet! I wanna see if I made it to the next round!" Ashido urged. The students quieted quickly, eager to see how they, and everyone else, scored.

Inko was shown crying with both stress and pride at home.

"Oh Mom.." Izuku said softly, wishing he could see her for real and let her know he was okay.

Two pros on security noticed Deku on screen, and recognized him from the slime villain incident.

"Guess someone's eating their words now." Uraraka said with a grin.

"It is rather poetic that the same recklessness they chastised him for is what helped him gain victory here." Iida noted.

"Huh, I never though about that..."

"Don't take that as an invitation to keep doing it, problem child."

"Of course not sir!"

In a dark room, Shiogaraki was also shown to be watching the results.

Tension suddenly filled the room. Many of them hadn't thought about what being on television would mean for them, given the events of the USJ.

"Are, are we sure it was a good idea to go ahead with the festival?" Mineta asked hesitantly, giving voice to what many of the students were thinking.

"Villains have had just as much access to the Sports Festival footage in previous years, and there has never been any evidence of it having an overly negative impact." Nedzu said, making it sound reassuring. If one looked closely though, they would see the slight downturn of his lips giving him away. He was far from pleased with the implications of that scene. Since the villains main goal had been to capture and kill All Might, he had seen no harm in going through with the festival. However, when he made that decision in this future timeline, he hadn't known that Shigaraki had singled out Midoriya so much, and this scene implied that Shigaraki's preoccupation could turn into something more sinister with time.

"Besides, I think this bodes well for the short term at least." Yagi said. "If he's watching like that instead of doing anything else, that likely means he's not planning to interfere with the festival itself."

The idea that they wouldn't have to directly worry about Shigaraki for a while longer did much to ease the tension in the room. 'Yagi always did have a knack for putting people at ease.' Nedzu thought.

Midoriya panted in exertion, and shared an intense look with All Might.

"Did you guys just share a moment? Just with eye contact? Across an entire stadium?" Hagakure asked, sounding impressed.

"You guys are both such saps, no wonder you get along so well." Jirou teased, making both mentor and student become flustered.

All Might's thoughts were heard while the other students continued to race. He had chosen Midoriya for his selflessness, but had worried that might hinder him in a world where heroes needed to be popular. Turns out he was worrying over nothing!

"Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed Midoriya had any ability to be cutthroat." Kaminari said. "I mean, we saw him get intense during the one on one battles and the USJ, but this is something else."

"I know right? Did you see him during that last bit? He literally stepped on the two in front to get ahead!" Sero laughed.

"Please stop bringing that up." Midoriya begged.

The camera showed three unidentified people talking about Midoriya's performance. They turned out to be Management students, which a voice over explained didn't benefit much from the main parts of the Sports Festival.

"I guess that explains why we never really see Management students after the first round huh?" Sato thought aloud. "Doing well enough to go on doesn't benefit them at all." Beside him, Koda shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the idea that any of those students might end up talking about him.

Uraraka wanted to protest that it was rude of them to dismiss Izuku's looks so quickly, but then remembered she'd described Deku as 'plain' to Present Mic, and that there was actual video of it. So she decided to stay quiet.

Bakugo and Todoroki were shown, recovering from their own sprints. Bakugo was angry that he had missed first once again, while Todoroki just stared at Midoriya for a minute before walking off.

Izuku frowned, and looked over at where Todoroki was sitting. The boy was staring at the screen, like most everyone else, and had his usual blank expression on. First the declaration, then that look...Izuku felt like something was building up, but he didn't know what.

'Todoroki...what's going through your head?'

Uraraka ran up to congratulate him, making him blush. Then his internal thoughts showed he believed that the only amazing thing was his luck, because he found a way to use the robot armor.

'Oh, that's true...the other me is right-'

"Stop that!" Uraraka scolded.

"Huh?" Izuku said, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Don't you think things like that! You did amazing! Using something from the environment to help isn't 'just luck', it's clever!"

"I agree. I imagine there were many broken robot pieces available for others to pick up, but it seems no one else thought to do so." Iida said. Uraraka nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! And even if they did I bet none of them would have thought to use them in such a cool way!"

"You're friends took the words right out of my mouth young Midoriya. Using the environment in a creative way is the same as using one's quirk in a creative way, both are admirable abilities." All Might gave him an understanding smile. "I know how such thoughts can drag one down, but you must remember not to sell yourself short. After all, how can you make others believe you will make things better, if you can't believe in your own abilities?"

Izuku's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, All Might, and, and you guys too. I'll- I'll try to remember that."

"Might want to add 'not be a crybaby' to the list." All Might joked, making Izuku chuckle as Iida handed him a tissue.

Momo was shown crossing the finish line, clearly exhausted. This was partially due to Mineta being stuck to her back.

Kaminari raised an eyebrow at Mineta. "Seriously dude?"

"I- the other me was just using my quirk creatively! Weren't they just saying that's a good thing?" Mineta said defensively.

"I would find that a lot easier to believe if you'd chosen to stick to anyone besides Yoayorozu." Ojiro said, gaining murmurs of agreement from several classmates. Mineta sighed, and started a new line in his notebook.

Midnight was shown announcing the results, which was mainly a mix of 1A and 1B students, with one notable exception.

Kids cheered when they or their friends were shown to have made it.

"Dude, did we all make it through the course?" Kirishima asked excitedly.

"Looks like it." Shoji nodded.

"Awesome! Great job everyone!" Kirishima cheered and high-fived the people around him. Others started doing the same. Uraraka held out another high-five for Deku, but he slapped it absentmindedly. He could have sworn he saw that the boy from Gen Ed, the purple haired one that had declared war on them, had made it through.

'It's like the 'camera' is making a point to focus on him. I wonder if Truth is trying to convey something...'

Midnight revealed that the next event would be a Cavalry battle. She explained what exactly that was, and that each person would have a point value based on their place in the previous race.

The students got more and more excited as they learned about the next event. They were already thinking about who they would want to team up with themselves, and coming up with theories over who would team up together.

With how excited Mineta was shown to be over the thought of a cavalry battle, Tsuyu wondered if she should slap him again. But she decided to wait and see how things panned out. Her future self might end up doing it for her after all.

"I bet you want to team up with Ojiro, huh Hagakure?" Ashido said, giving the invisible girl a sly smile.

"W-well, of course, he's very strong so why wouldn't I want to?" Hagakure said, obviously fidgeting in her seat. "Besides! I figured you would be all over Uraraka and Midoriya teaming up."

Ashido snorted. "Oh trust me, those two are a given. Maybe Iida will join them too, but those two are definitely gonna team up."

"Oui, they most certainly will. Though with the display he just put on, she may have to act fast."

Then Midnight announced that the first place winner would be worth 10 million, meaning that whoever took Deku's team down would be at the top. The episode ended with almost everyone staring hungrily at Midoriya.

"On the other hand, maybe she won't need to rush at all."

"Oh, but now it's even better! Just think of all the moments they could share, standing side by side against the horde!"

"You read my thoughts, mon ami!"


"It was nice knowing you, Midoriya." Kaminari gave the stunned Izuku a salute.

"Dude!" Sero complained.

"His summation is accurate, if not crude. People will likely either beg to join him to get a shot at the 10 million right away, or avoid him like the plague in the hopes that they'll be on a strong enough team to take him down. There will likely be very little in between." Momo predicted.

"I think you were right earlier, young Midoirya. For you, the real test starts now." All Might said. Midoriya nodded, grim but determined.

"I think I know what you mean." 'I just hope the future me figures it out too.'

"Don't worry so much, my boy! I have confidence you will find your way through, and continue to declare yourself!"

Izuku smiled at him. 'Somehow, that knowledge is both stressful and comforting.'


Aizawa watched everyone's reactions with a critical eye. He was very interested to see how this would play out. After all, some of the strongest in class were also the ones that had the most issues with teamwork, while those that would otherwise struggle could flourish in a support role. So he had no objections when the students once again voted to have a quick stretch and bathroom break before moving on to the next 'episode'.