Coco: Okay, everyone, I took out the four students I was going to add to Class 1-B since so many people were complaining about the sheer number of OCs. To those of you who supported the OCs and my decision to add them, thank-you. It is appreciated. I have found a way to slightly incorporate them as very minor background characters, so they are not forgotten completely. And I believe I've worked out a way to get through these games while still keeping everything even. So, I hope it works out XD

And I am still planning to do the "foreign exchange" program, so Konan is out and a new character will be brought in. I've been playing around with ideas, and I hope it all works out with this new character. So, after this arc, I will putting in a small mini original arc of my own to deal with that. And I will try to restrain myself from adding in anymore characters. I just get so many ideas and its hard to keep them bottled up XD lol

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first chapter to the Sports Festival.

Ayano looked at herself in the mirror as she readied for today. It was finally here. The U.A Sports Festival. She trained hard in these last four weeks, and she was ready to put herself to the test. Her goal was to go as far as possible in the Festival. The exam Aizawa gave them at the beginning of the school year put her low on the list of her standing in class, but she knew she could do better then. And she's improved herself since that time too. She would not be chasing after Katsuki and Izuku forever, and today was the day to show them that she was there…right alongside them.

"Aya! Hurry your ass up!" Katsuki shouted through the door as he banged on it. "You better not be in there primping!"

Ayano sighed as she turned towards the door to give it a deadpanned expression as if it was Katsuki himself. She made no comment though as she finally stepped away from the mirror. She was already dressed for school and her gym clothes and boots were packed. Ayano went to the door while opening it to see a very irate Katsuki.

"Come on," He said. "We don't have all day."

He then turned to walk off as Ayano wondered what had him in a rush. She knew today was a big deal, but Katsuki usually didn't get all that excited for certain things. He barely even blinked when Aizawa told them the Sports Festival was coming up. Ayano decided not to question it though as she followed Katsuki to the door where their bags and shoes waited. They sat down next to each other while putting on their shoes.

"You better be some kind of competition today, Aya," Katsuki said as he stood with his bag over his shoulder.

Ayano blinked up at him before she felt her lips twitch up partially as she stood as well.

"I believe that's what I should be saying to you." She said as she put her bag over her shoulder.

Katsuki stared at her for a long moment before letting out a snort as he turned. He walked out the door before her and after she stepped out after them, she locked up the door. She placed her hand on the door.

'Well, brother, I'm off," She thought towards Ko.

She hadn't been able to see him last night nor did she have the time to visit him this morning. But she still hoped in someway that he knew she was going to do her best. Ayano finally dropped her hand while following after Katsuki who had went on.

After changing in the girls' locker room, Ayano went to join her classmates in the waiting room for Class 1-A.

"Aw man," Mina whined as Ayano was walking in. "I was totally hoping I could wear my costume."

"At least everyone will be in uniforms," Mashirao pointed out. "That'll keep things fair, right?"

Mina hummed supposing that was true. Ayano shut the door behind her while seeing everyone else was already here as well—Well, everyone except for Tenya. Some seemed nervous and others seemed excited. There were even some who didn't seem to be either.

"I wonder what they have in store for us in the first round." Rikido said as he clenched and unclenched his clasped hands.

"No matter what they've prepared we must preserver." Fumikage said.

Mezo nodded from behind him in agreement as a few others students talked together about the Sports Festival.

"Oh, Ishida, there you are." Momo said while smiling when she saw the shorter girl. "We were starting to wonder if you went with Iida to find out when we would be heading out."

Momo was sitting with Kyoka and Ayumi near the back on the couch they had in the room.

"No, I suppose I just took more time than needed to get ready." Ayano said.

Ayano then looked towards Eijiro when he put his arm around her shoulders with a grin on his face.

"Oh?" He asked. "Is the talented Ishida Ayano nervous?"

He asked this teasingly, and honestly, Ayano was a bit nervous. But it wasn't anything she would be unable to handle. She trained hard for today and she refused to do poorly.

"Maybe a bit," Ayano confessed with a slight chuckle.

Before Eijiro could comment, the door opened with Tenya walking through to join his classmates.

"Everyone, get your game faces on!" Tenya ordered. "We're entering the arena soon."

Everyone all seemed to take deep breaths while doing their little thing to calm their nerves.

"Midoriya," Shoto suddenly called out as he walked towards Izuku.

Everyone looked over curiously as Shoto seemed to stare down the slightly shorter teen. Ayano narrowed her eyes slightly as she slightly peeked at Shoto's thoughts. However, it was like a dark cloud was covering them—making them fuzzy. His heavy feelings were like a blanket over his thoughts.

She almost smirked. It looks as if Shoto found a way to block her—even if just a little bit. He's literally using his feelings to put a curtain of sorts between his thoughts and Ayano. She never thought ones' emotions could be used against her mind reading ability. The way she taught Katsuki and Izuku to keep their thoughts private was completely different.

"Hey, Todoroki," Izuku said. "What's up?"

"From an objective stand point, I think it's fairly clear that I'm stronger than you," He said with his blunt statement throwing off Izuku.

However, the green-haired youth agreed meekly as he nodded his head with his eyes slightly downcast. Ayano's brow quirked wondering where Shoto was going with this.

"However, you've got All Might in your corner helping you out." Shoto continued. "I'm not here to pry between what's going on between you two. But know that I will beat you."

More than just Izuku seemed surprised by Shoto's declaration as the two-tone-haired teen stared unwaveringly at Izuku. He was being serious. Ayano didn't need to hear his thoughts to know that.

"What's with all these declarations of war lately?" Denki asked as Eijiro left Ayano's side to walk up to Shoto and Izuku.

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Eijiro asked as he placed his hand on Shoto's shoulder. "Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? And right before we get started?"

Shoto roughly knocked Eijiro's hand off of his shoulder, which had some people's eyes widening.

"We're not here to be each other's friends," Shoto said as he started to leave. "Don't forget, this isn't a team effort."

Ayano tilted her head to the side. Something definitely had Shoto on edge. While he wasn't the friendliest of people, he was acting strange today.

"Wait a second, Todoroki," Izuku called out stopping Shoto before he could make it to the door. "I don't know what's going through your head. Or why you need to tell me you'll beat me. And, yeah, of course, you're better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the Hero Course. That's why you got in so easily."

"Uh, Midoriya, maybe you're being a little hard on yourself…and us," Eijiro said.

Ayano knew that wasn't it. Izuku had a point to this, and after all he's been through, he wouldn't put himself down to the point of almost sounding as if he was giving up. He was here for a reason just like the rest of them, and that was to aim for the top.

"No," Izuku said shaking his head. "He's right, you guys. All the other courses—they're coming for us with everything they've got. We're going to have to fight to stand out. And I'll be aiming for the top too."

"Fine," Shoto said.

It was tensely silent for a moment longer before Ayano clapped her hands together once to get everyone's attention.

"Well, that might not be the best way to get everyone hyped up for the Festival, but it is time to leave, I believe," Ayano said. "Isn't that right, Class Rep?"

"Uh, yes," Tenya said. "Let's all leave in an orderly manner, please. We need to be ready to lead the other classes into the arena. I want everyone on their best behavior."

He got a few "yes, sirs," in reply while others just got up silently. Everyone filed out with Tenya and Ayano bringing up the rear with Momo up front.

"I didn't see this happening," Tenya said as he walked alongside Ayano. "I had no idea Todoroki saw Midoriya as such a rival. I also didn't take him for the type to declare war like that against someone."

"We all haven't been together that long," Ayano pointed out. "There's bound to be things we don't know about each other. We don't know why Todoroki-kun did what he did, and while I agree it might be a bit odd for him to behave in such a way, we don't know all the facts."

It was like Ayumi's thoughts of the Sports Festival. It was something none of the girls had expected of the speedster, and the reason for Ayumi's lack of care for the Festival and its meaning, stemmed into her personal life. The same was probably said about Shoto, but instead of not caring like Ayumi, he planned to reach the top and wasn't afraid to tell others that either.

"Yes, I suppose that's true." Tenya said. "To be honest, I see Midoriya as a bit of a rival as well. He might not have the best handle on his quirk like the rest of us, but he has surprised me time and time again. And his conviction of never giving up…is inspiring."

Ayano smiled at Tenya's honest words as she looked forward to look at the back of Izuku's head as he walked with Ochaco.

"Yes," Ayano said. "Izuku has always been like that. Even when we were children. He never gave up on his dream of becoming a hero even when those around him told him it was foolish and impossible. Though back then things were different—he needed my protection."

Tenya looked down at Ayano curiously as her smile dimmed a bit as it stopped reaching her eyes.

"Back then I never questioned or fought against the set up between Izuku, Katsuki, and I." Ayano said. "Katsuki was always the strongest of the three of us. Izuku the weakest, and I worked as the deterrent between them—I was holding the middle ground. I was fine with that. But now, I'm the one holding the bottom, and I feel as if I'm starting to understand Izuku's feelings more now. I'm understanding what it's like trying to catch up to those around me. It's not a feeling I like."

Tenya's eyes widened as Ayano said this. He had no idea she felt in such a way. While she might not have ranked high in Aizawa's fitness test, he knew she was a strong member of their class. She had such potential and skill.

"That's all going to change today," Ayano continued. "I'm done chasing after them, and today is the day I show them I'm not being left behind."

"I know you can do." Tenya said as he grinned down at her. "While you are my competition, I'm rooting for you, Ishida."

Ayano thanked Tenya as they all finally reached the tunnel they were meant to leave through.

"Is everyone ready?" Tenya asked their classmates as he and Ayano walked towards the front.

"Yeah!" Class 1-A replied.

Ayano stopped beside Katsuki while crossing her arms across her chest as Present Mic could be heard starting up the Festival, which had the crowd cheering.

"This year we're bringing you some of the hottest performances in Sports Festival history!" Present Mic declared. "Guaranteed! I've only got one question before we start this show. Are ya ready?!"

The crowd cheered in response with the entire arena sounding as if it was in the middle of one big roar.

"Let me hear ya scream as our students make their way to the big stage!" Present Mic continued, which was everyone's cue to get moving.

Class 1-A headed out into the arena with the crowd becoming even louder if possible.

"Welcome back to the U.A Sports Festival." Present Mic said. "Where upcoming heroes leave everything on the field as they fight for the chance to be a worldwide famous celebrity! This first group is no strangers to the spotlight. You know them from withstanding a villain attack. The dazzling students lighting up their names with solid gold skills. The Hero Class students of Class 1-A!"

Ayano blinked wondering if they really needed all that hype. Though she supposed Present Mic's words just had more people interested in them, which is good when you're trying to impress pro-heroes.

"I didn't know there was going to be so many people." Izuku said.

"I hope we're still able to give our best performances even though all these eyes are watching us." Tenya said. "I suppose its just another aspect of a hero we're going to have to get used to."

Ayano supposed it was true. Though didn't mean she liked all these eyes on them.

"Present Mic sure talked us up a lot." Eijiro said as he walked behind Ayano and Katsuki. "Kind of makes me nervous. How are you feeling, man?"

"I'm not worried," Katsuki said. "Makes me want to win this thing even more."

"You'll have to get through me first if you want the top stop, Kacchan," Ayano told him as Present Mic introduced the other classes from the other hero course to the business courses.

Katsuki smirked in return as their class came to a stop at the edge of the field. In front of them was Midnight. She stood on a small stage wearing her hero uniform and whip in hand. That woman must have a lot of confidence to wear that.

"Now, the introductory speech!" Midnight declared.

As the men in the arena started fawning over their Art Lit teacher, Ayano sighed.

'Men, so typical,' Ayano thought.

She then peeked at Katsuki to see how he was reacting to see he didn't seem to care at all. She didn't know why, but she was oddly—pleased?—with this. She then frowned wondering why she even cared in the first place.

"Ah, someone should talk to Midnight-sensei about what she's wearing," Eijiro said looking embarrassed by the entire thing.

"Yeah, that costume should come with a warning," Denki agreed.

"Is that really appropriate apparel for a high school game?" Fumikage questioned.

Of course, Minoru gave his thumbs up of approval as many inappropriate thoughts ran this his head. He paled though when sensing Ayano's glare. He shrunk away to practically hide behind Mezo as Hachiro blinked in confusion.

"But isn't that what she wears everyday at school?" Hachiro questioned. "Why is everyone making a big deal about it now?"

Mina just pat his head silently as he tried to understand what the big deal was.

"Don't worry your innocent little head about it, Nida-kun," Toru said.

Hachiro just blinked in confusion was more.

"Silence everyone!" Midnight ordered as she slashed her whip to the side. "And for the student pledge, we have Bakugo Katsuki!"

As Izuku and a few others looked at Katsuki in shock, Ayano lightly frowned. She knew this wasn't exactly going to end well. Katsuki walked passed her and the others to make his way towards the stage.

"He's the first-year rep?" Izuku asked shocked.

"I guess that hothead did finish first in the entrance test." Hanta pointed out.

"Only for the Hero Course exams." A girl from General Studies pointed out.

Her tone had Izuku and Hanta sweat-dropping along with a few others who seemed uncomfortable.

"That girl obviously hates us," Hanta said.

"And we've got Bakugo to thank for them not liking our class." Denki said.

"While I agree Katsuki's attitude towards them didn't help, I'm sure they'd dislike us anyway," Ayano said.

Denki frowned though supposed that was true. They were in the Hero Course while those around them—besides Class 1-B—weren't. And as that one guy said the other day, those in different classes would probably be gunning for the top stop to try and replace one of them. So basically, they had targets on their backs to begin with. Thought Class 1-B didn't like them either, so there was that too.

"We'll all just have to do our best," Momo said.

There was a murmur of agreement from the others as Katsuki finally stopped in front of the mic, which had everyone going silent.

"…I just wanna say…I'm going to win," Katsuki said very bluntly.

His words were met with immediate booing from the other classes as Ayano sighed. Behind her, her classmates weren't pleased either.

"Why would you be so disrespectful?!" Tenya demanded of Katsuki. "You're representing us all!"

Katsuki just turned not seeming apologetic in the slightest, which didn't surprise Ayano one bit.

"It's not my fault the rest of you are just stepping stones to my victory," Katsuki said as he turned his thumb down.

This received more negativity, which was to be expected. Katsuki calmly left the stage though while ignoring Tenya who was scolding him and everyone else. Ayano understands Katsuki was just trying to push himself as they all were pushing themselves, but making all of them targets along the way seemed a bit much. Katsuki came to a stop beside Ayano who shot him a slightly annoyed look though said nothing. The screens before them then changed, which brought the booing to a halt. Things were about to begin.

"Without further ado, it's time for us to get started!" Midnight proclaimed. "The first game is what you all thought about. This is where you begin feeling the pain. The first faithful game of the festival."

A screen appeared behind her as she waved her whip and a roulette started up on screen. Ayano tilted her head wondering what the first test would be.

"What could it be?" Midnight asked—keeping the crowd and some of the students on edge.

The roulette finally stopped to reveal the first task, and Ayano frowned at what it said.

"Tada!" Midnight exclaimed.

An obstacle race. It's a good thing she had Hatsume design this gear for her. Otherwise, she knew she probably wouldn't have got passed this first game. It shows she's improving by thinking ahead and out of the box. Still it was a bit scary knowing a race of all things could have kept her from doing well in this festival.

"All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest," Midnight said. "The track is four kilometers around the outside of the stadium. I don't want to strain anyone—at least in this game—as long as you don't leave the course you're free to do whatever your heart desires!"

The crowd cheered at that as Ayano crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head.

"She probably shouldn't have said that." Ayano said. "We do a violent pyro in our class after all. There's no telling what he might do."

"What was that, Aya?!" Katsuki demanded.

"Yeah, she has a point," Hanta said nodding.

There was more murmuring of agreement from the others, which had Katsuki's brow twitching in annoyance.

"Now then," Midnight began. "Take your places, contestants!"

All the students—minus Ayumi—hurried to get over to the starting gate as the lights above lit up. Ayumi just sighed as she walked calmly towards the starting gate.

"It had to be a race," Ayumi said. "How freaking boring. I won't even have to go top speed at this."

They really should have thought of something that was a bit more creative than an obstacle race. Especially with a speedster in the games this year. Near the front of the line was most of classes 1-A and 1-B. Ayano had noticed most of the general studies and support glasses hadn't bothered with trying to get towards the front. It seemed most of them didn't share the same drive as that purple-haired boy from the other day.

And she wasn't that surprised Ayumi chose the back as well. That speedster probably wasn't too concerned where or even when she started this race. She was going to take first place in this, so all of Class 1-A knew it was more like a fight for second place than first. The lights finally started counting down above them, so Ayano took a deep breath knowing getting through the doorway was going to be the hardest part. It was a good thing she had a way to get above everyone's head. Just as the last light was going out, everyone prepared to move.

"Begin!" Midnight shouted as the last light went out.

As his students took off along with the other contestants of the games, Aizawa sat with Present Mic in the commentators' box watching.

"And we're off to a racing start!" Present Mic declared. "How about some comic commentary, Mummy man?!"

Aizawa gave Mic a look of annoyance. He wasn't even completely wrapped in bandages. Doctorine practically held him down to see to his wounds. The only things still wrapped up were his arms.

"How did you talk me into this?" Aizawa wondered out loud.

Present Mic ignored his question as the large grin remained on his face. Aizawa sighed wishing he had just sat with the other teachers instead.

"What should we be paying attention to during the early stages of the race?" Present Mic questioned his friend.

"The doorway," Aizawa replied very bluntly.

He could see there was going to be a large blockage in the tunnel leading towards the track with so many students just trying to get through without thinking of the limited space. If his students let this stop them for too long, he'd have to push them extra hard in classes once this is all over. He then blinked when noticing one of his students haven't even left the arena yet.

"Hey, wait, isn't that one of your students, Eraser?!" Present Mic asked pointing down at Ayumi who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Aizawa frowned down at the silver-haired girl as she watched the large mess of students before her. She had a bored look on her face as she remained in place.

"Jinsoku Ayumi," Aizawa said.

At the sound of her name and when hearing her teacher's voice, Ayumi turned towards the commentators' box. She grinned at Aizawa while waving towards him.

"She's most likely going to wait until near the end of the race to start," Aizawa said. "But she needs to. Take. This. Seriously."

He said this firmly as he narrowed his eyes at her. Ayumi seemed to feel his glare since she looked away quickly. In the stands, many were murmuring after hearing Ayumi's family name. Aizawa saw as Ayumi's expression seemed to fall as she heard them speak. He knew she was tired of living in the shadow of her family name. She wanted to be seen for who she was. He was sure she'd try to stand out in some way during these games, but he hoped she didn't get so reckless that she ended up hindering herself.

"Well, well, I can't wait to see what happens!" Present Mic said. "Back at the action, it seems as if most of the students have been frozen in place by Todoroki!"

Aizawa looked to the screen that showed the ice covering the opening tunnel. It was true. Many of the students were frozen in place. However, not all were. All students from Class 1-A and Class 1-B managed to get out of the way of the ice. Even a few from the other classes. Though Shoto was at the lead of the group with Minoru and Ayano, who was using her new gear, right behind him. However, Minoru was taken out by one of the large robots the teachers had set up to hinder the students. As the robots circled the students, the crowd gasped.

"Oh! Enemies have showed up out of nowhere!" Present Mic exclaimed. "I bet we're in for a treat here! A test of strength and cunning. It's a robo-inferno!"

Aizawa remained silent as he watched the screens. What would his students do now?