Chapter 37 - We Are Family

Two days passed by, and Matthew was in his room, taking a nap and recovering from his wounds. Because he was tired, he was sleeping with his mouth open, and was making sounds similar to that of a chainsaw. The platinum medal, now put in a frame, was hanging on the wall, tacked up next to the poster of a famous American hero. A knocking on his door interrupted his sleep, and he awoke with a snort and a cough. He then looked around drowsily and, upon hearing the knocking again, groaned and got up from out of bed.

Matthew's clothing consisted of a dark green tanktop, his gym uniform pants, and he was barefoot. He shuffled to the door, and stood in front of it, blinking and trying to wake up.

"Who is it?" Matthew asked, his tone drowsy.

"It's me and Mina, Matthew." Milo replied, from the other side of the door. "We've got a surprise for you!"

Matthew shook himself awake, and then opened the door, finding his two friends standing there. Milo was wearing his black army cap, an orange t-shirt, his gym uniform pants, and he was barefoot. As for Ashido, she was wearing her pale yellow t-shirt, her gym uniform pants, and she was barefoot as well.

"Where's the surprise?" Matthew asked, his tone no longer drowsy.

"It's downstairs!" Ashido replied cheerfully. "And you're going to love it!"

"Okay, let's go." said Matthew, who stepped out of his room, and closed the door behind him.

"Hold on, little buddy." Milo spoke, producing a black cloth from his pocket. "Since we want to keep it a surprise, you're going to need to be blindfolded for it."

"Oh boy." Matthew groaned. "I hope this isn't one of those surprises where I take off the blindfold, and then get pelted by a bunch of creme pies."

"Come on, and waste good creme pies?" Ashido asked, her tone playful. "Don't worry, you're actually going to like this surprise."

With only minor discomfort, Matthew surrendered, and let Milo tie the blindfold around his eyes. Ashido then began guiding him down the stairs, with Matthew holding onto her as she led him. Milo went on ahead, to get everyone prepared for the surprise. Sure enough, Ashido and Matthew came down into the main living room of the Class 1-A dorm, and then they stopped.

"Matthew Noble, remove the blindfold!" Milo announced.

Matthew obeyed, removed the blindfold, and-

"Surprise!" Everyone yelled.

Class 1-A, Class 1-B, the American students, and several of the students from the different countries were in the main living room. There was a table set up with food, snacks, and cakes on it, and a banner that said 'CONGRATULATIONS, MATTHEW!' was hanging on the wall. All Might was there, along with Sergeant Vocal, Sundown, and some of the teachers from the other countries. Aizawa was also there, along with Ms. Joke; they had just gotten back from their honeymoon. The Big Three, Eri, Shinso, and members of the Seventh Legion were there as well.

"Aw, you guys!" said Matthew, his tone somewhat bashful. "You didn't have to do this."

"Sure we did!" Murdock replied. "It's a pretty big deal that someone without a quirk won the U.A World Sports Festival!"

"Yeah, and proved everyone wrong in the process." Aizawa added, his tone dull as usual.

"Hey Aizawa!" Matthew greeted. "How did your honeymoon go?"

"It was wonderful!" Ms. Joke added, coming over to kiss her husband's cheek. "He's really a fun guy!"

"Is that a joke, Ms. Joke?" Matthew asked, his tone humorous.

Ms. Joke laughed and hugged Aizawa, who rolled his eyes, and gave a small smile. The other students came over to congratulate Matthew, among them were Joshua, Simon Cooper, Kirishima, Shay Adam, Charlotte, Adena, Hikari, Drago, Vincent, and the various others. Matthew took each of their compliments with grace, and even complimented them as well, for their hard work and dedication.

"Oh, and before the festivities kick off, we have one more surprise for you!" said Sunshine. "But, you'll need to close your eyes again."

"Oh lord, here it comes; the creme pies!" Matthew said, his tone jokingly annoyed.

"What's with you and creme pies?" Kaminari asked, his tone jokingly confused. "Look, just stand right here, and don't turn around until we tell you."

"Okay." said Matthew. "So, what's the-"

Suddenly, someone came up from behind and put their hands over Matthew's eyes.

"Alright, that's real funny, whoever you are." Matthew spoke, his tone playfully sarcastic. "Now who's covering my eyes?"

"I'll give you three guesses." said a familiar male voice.

Matthew let out a gasp of surprise and quickly whirled around, finding his mom and dad standing behind him! The look of surprise on his face was so funny that everyone burst out laughing, but not in a mean way.

Matthew's dad was a man in his fifties, and he looked a lot like his son, but older. He was wearing a black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black and white sneakers. Matthew's mother was in her forties, and she had black hair, somewhat tanned skin, and brown eyes. Her figure was somewhat curvy, and her attire was a pinkish-red sweater, dark blue jeans, and black dress shoes.

"Mom! Dad!" said Matthew, his tone excited as he quickly hugged his two parents. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"We heard you won the Sports Festival, and we came to visit and celebrate with you." Matthew's mother replied, as Matthew let go of the two of them. "We hopped on the next flight to Japan, came to U.A, and here we are."

"It was quite funny meeting your classmates." Matthew's father added, his tone humorous. "Obviously, we knew your classmates from Justice High, and then we met your classmates from Class 1-A. They were all surprised that we were your parents, and they congratulated us on having a son like you. Then, they said we should surprise you at the party, and that you wouldn't see it coming."

"I definitely didn't see it coming, but it is a welcoming surprise." said Matthew. "So, did you guys see me in the Sports Festival?"

"Yes we did, and you were great!" Matthew's mother replied cheerfully. "We were on the edge of our seats the entire time, but you were able to power through and win!"

"You did awesome, Matthew, and we're very proud of you." Matthew's father added. "You really proved that, even without a quirk, people can do great things."

Matthew smiled at the recognition he received from his own parents, and he hugged them again. Afterwards, he let them go, and invited his parents to join in on the festivities. They agreed, and the party went on without a hitch.


The combined groups at the party had a lot of fun; they had food and snacks, there was music playing and some dancing, stories and conversations were swapped, contact info was given out, and even an arm wrestling contest broke out. But best of all, Present Mic had brought the highlight reel for the World Sports Festival, so they could all watch the different events that played out in it.

Parts of the highlight reel included Ashido winning the maze race, Simon Cooper and Milo facing off against each other as the final competitors, the extreme calvary battle where Cain destroyed the competition, and the hand-to-hand battle, showing some of the best, and craziest, matches. There was also the halftime show, along with some small, funny moments, such as the cheerleader incident, and one 'out of context' scene between Midoriya and Charlotte. The scene went like this:

At the end of the Dodgeball Battle Royale, Present Mic showed a series of highlights from the event. One of the scenes was of Charlotte spinning some of her webbing, which could also be used as silk, to create a bandage to put around Midoriya's leg, which had received a nasty and large gash. Once she was finished, she carefully wrapped the gauze around his leg, which stuck onto his leg and kept him from bleeding anymore. Midoriya then grabbed her hands and began examining her, muttering to himself about how her quirk made her similar to a spider, giving her an exoskeleton and allowing her to make webbing. Charlotte, who was often feared by others for her appearance, began blushing heavily, as no one had ever held her hands like this before.

"What's this?!" Present Mic asked over the loudspeakers, when the scene appeared on the screen. "There seems to be love blossoming on the battlefield! I totally ship it! You go, spider-girl!"

Unfortunately, to make matters even more awkward, somebody in the sound and video booth decided to stop on the scene of Midoriya and Charlotte, before encircling them with a large heart. Upon seeing this, several of the female students began swooning and squealing with delight, while most of the male students were trying their hardest not to break out laughing.

Midoriya looked absolutely appalled, and began freaking out and stuttering, trying to tell everyone that it wasn't anything like that. Uraraka was trying to pass it off as a joke, but inwardly, she was screaming in horror. As for Charlotte, she kept her head down and snuck off unnoticed, while the razzing at Midoriya continued.

"Boy, was that awkward." Midoriya groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Aw, I thought it was kind of sweet." Matthew said, his tone playful. "You and Charlotte looked so cute together."

"Which is why it made for a great addition to the highlight reel!" Present Mic announced aloud.

Joshua rolled his eyes and said in a dark tone, "You need some serious help, dude."

"Tell me about it." Aizawa added, his tone equally dark.

Everyone laughed at what Joshua and Aizawa said, and even they had to crack a grin at the merriment of the moment. The group then went back to watching the highlight reel, reminiscing and laughing about all that they had been through.

And as he was watching the highlight reel, Matthew pulled up the winners' selfie to look at it; Ashido had sent a copy of the picture to his phone, along with the three others. Milo and Ashido were on the right side, Cain and Simon were on the left, and Matthew was in the middle. While four had bright smiles, Cain had only a small smile on his face. Seeing the picture, Matthew studied it, and thought back to all that he had gone through to get to that moment.

He had fought his way to the top, without a quirk, and had proved himself. With God watching over him, he had won the U.A World Sports Festival. It was Matthew Noble versus The World, and Matthew Noble had come out victorious.


Principal Nezu was in his office at U.A, looking over some papers and organizing them, cheerfully humming a tune as he did so. He was a little individual, who looked to be a cross between a dog, mouse, and bear. He had a mouse-like head with white fur, black eyes, a little black nose, and a large scar over his right eye. He also had dog-like paws, along with a cat-like tail with white fur. His clothing was a white dress shirt, a dark red tie, a black waistcoat, black dress pants, and orange sneakers, which looked similar to Midoriya's sneakers.

As Nezu was looking over the papers, writing down on them, and then organizing them, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Nezu said cheerfully, looking up and at the door.

The door opened, and the person knocking walked in. He was tall, and his quirk looked like it had something to do with a wolf, for he had white wolf ears, claws, and a bushy tail with white fur. He also had white shaggy hair, fair complexion, and brown eyes. His clothing consisted of a grey dress jacket, a white dress shirt, grey dress pants, and black dress shoes.

"Principal Nezu, I presume?" asked the visitor. "Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Eustace Candelaria."

"Greetings!" Nezu replied cheerfully. "Please, have a seat!"

The visitor, Eustace, obeyed and sat down on the chair in front of Nezu's desk.

"I apologize for the great amount of security surrounding U.A, but we were attacked by villains a year ago." said Nezu. "So, we've had to beef up security in order to prevent any more attacks."

"I understand." Eustace replied. "It's important to protect the heroes of tomorrow."

"Now then, you said that you have an offer to make for young Noble. What is this particular offer?"

"Have you ever heard of the U.Q.A.A?"

"U.Q.A.A? I'm sorry, but I haven't."

"That's alright; we're not really well known, not like Justice High or U.A. It stands for 'United Quirkless of America Association'. What we do is help people who are quirkless, and also promote that they can do all the things that people with quirks can. It's hard for quirkless to live in societies such as this, with everyone having a superpower except for those without it. A lot of quirkless get bullied and pushed around for their differences, and we want to help put a stop to that. What we want to do, is to show the world that you don't have to have a quirk in order to be a hero."

"I see. And how did you, a person with a quirk, get involved with this company?"

"I was saved by a woman who was quirkless." Eustace replied, his tone darkening. "But she was killed by someone who did have a quirk. To make matters worse, she had a son, and her husband had passed away as well, rendering him an orphan. I took the boy, who was quirkless, in as my own, and I want to honor his mother's memory by showing the world that quirkless are not helpless. That's also our slogan: quirkless, but not helpless."

"You have my sympathy for your loss." Nezu spoke, his tone apologetic. "But, what does this have to do with young Noble?"

"Matthew Noble has won a victory for quirkless everywhere, by winning the U.A World Sports Festival." Eustace replied. "Thanks to this, it has allowed a special project that we've been working on to be brought to life. The special project is called 'Quirkless Squadron', a group of young, quirkless heroes. There are five of them, and I was wondering if Matthew Noble could be the sixth member. I've already talked with the principal of Justice High, and she's alright with it, which now leads to you."

"And you want me to turn Matthew Noble over to you, is that correct?" Nezu asked.

"Correct, but I also want my quirkless squadron to help out around U.A, and the city of Musutafu. I understand the hero internships are coming up, along with the final exams, so why not have this be Matthew's internship? It'd really show my squad's potential, along with getting us some publicity, and the opportunity for young Noble to work with people who are just like him. So, what do you say to my sales pitch here?"

"Let me see if I have this straight: you represent a company who helps quirkless, and you have a squad of young and quirkless heroes. You want to bring them to U.A for a trial run, and you want Matthew Noble to be a member?"

"Why yes, that's what I'm trying to sell here. I believe that Matthew will be a valuable asset to the squad."

Nezu thought about it for a few seconds, before replying, "I think it would be a good idea, but that decision rests on Matthew's shoulders. If he says yes, then you and your squadron can be here at U.A for the internships. If not, then you'll have to go somewhere else."

"Like Shiketsu, or Ketsubutsu?" Eustace asked. "I believe they would like a shot at publicity, after being in U.A's spotlight all this time. Mostly Shiketsu, due to Ketsubutsu receiving praise for one of their teachers marrying a U.A teacher. But, we shall see… we shall see…"


Tartarus Prison, a maximum high security prison where dangerous criminals, such as All for One, and Hero Killer: Stain, were locked away. Constantly monitored, and with a large number of armed guards on hand, the prison was a fortress, impossible to either break in or out of. However, what those currently working there didn't know, was that there was a mole among their guards, and that mole had just unlocked the door to Stain's cell! The door came unlocked, and it slid open, revealing the pitch blackness inside the hero killer's cell!

And that was when Stain opened his eyes, and licked his lips with his elongated tongue…

THE END… FOR NOW.

Author's Notes: And thus, the story is complete! But don't think we're done just yet: go to the next chapter to see a preview for the upcoming story!

Special thanks to 'bluebarnowl' for the idea of watching a highlight reel!

R&R,

Heroboy005