16.03.2020
Hiya! It's me again, but since no one listens anyway I'll keep this note short.
Enjoy the chapter everyone!
The short time he spent at Aldera made Midoriya realize something that Nezu has already told him. When he spoke in the auditorium, no one could look away, completely focused on him. He wasn't interrupted even once, which hints that his listeners were content with his presentation.
This occurrence made Izuku believe that he really had a talent to connect with people. As such, he decided to put this talent to good use as soon as they got back.
It wasn't even noon, when Creati and Cybrex entered the campus. They immediately went in the direction of their dormitorium to change into their workout clothes and get some training in before lunch.
Midoriya was the first to come out with Yaoyorozu only a minute or two behind him, since she had to take off the various holsters that held her many lexicons.
She did however manage to get to 1-A's training field before her partner, since he wanted to start off with an intense jog.
Yaoyorozu made her way to the her female classmates that were currently chatting, while sitting under a tree. They motioned for her to join them as soon as she entered their field of view.
"Hi Yaomomo!", Mina welcomed her with excitement.
"Where have you been?", asked Kyouka.
"Midoriya and I were on a special assignment that I told you about yesterday", the blackette answered and sat down in front of the girls.
"Oh, so you and prince charming had some alone time with each other?", teased Tooru, which got the Vice Rep to blush lightly at the implication.
"N-no, we just went there and d-did what we were asked to d-do!", the heiress immediately shouted in response and then covered her lips when she realised that she might've been a little bit on the loud side.
It wasn't her fault though, at least not entirely. It was Mina's and Tooru's fault for making those false assumptions all the time. She didn't have a crush on Midoriya. Right?
Actually, that was what she originally thought. His natural charisma and good looks made him very attractive and she wasn't the only one thinking that. This, coupled with his ability to make excellent speeches and his heroic nature made him a role model for many.
Yaoyorozu knew that at least a few of her classmates admired him for one reason or another, so she didn't think too much on her feelings towards her Class Rep.
But Midoriya changed her way of thinking piece by piece. If she had to guess then it probably started somewhere between their joint training with class 1-B and the USJ incident. One day something just clicked and she started paying more and more attention to him. She almost died on the spot, when Kyouka shook her arm to get her attention when she froze looking at Midoriya, who was at the time talking with Kirishima and Kaminari about their Quirks and how to improve them.
It took some serious convincing on her part to just play it off as if she was just thinking heavily about something, but in the end she managed to hide her action with the white lie.
Since then, she saw Midoriya in new light. He was her classmate, a fellow hero in training, but was also an attractive guy her age with a likable personality and unbreakable will. She found her eyes being drawn to him more and more as time passed.
His smile was always enough to make Yaoyorozu smile herself. Every time they talked she felt lighter than normal and Momo found herself unable to keep her overly upbeat personality in check.
Yaoyorozu saw all these signs, but still tried to fool herself into thinking that it was just a growing respect for a fellow classmate rather than a crush.
Her world was turned upside down when the USJ incident hit. She felt tears trickle down her cheeks when Midoriya jumped in front of her group and pushed the Villains back singlehandedly.
Yaoyorozu didn't say this to anyone, but she went to visit him on the same evening. She grabbed his hand and just sat there for a while with a smile on her face and a feeling of warmth that was spreading throughout her body from the contact.
Yup, that was definitely a proof that she had a crush on Midoriya. But the girls didn't have to know this.
Momo was brought back to reality when Tsuyu's tongue whacked her in the back of the head.
"Ouch", she grumbled and massaged her temple.
"I'm sorry Yaomomo, we tried getting your attention, but you just weren't responding", the frog girl answered with a finger to her lips.
"Jeez, Midoriya is nowhere near and you still can't focus", this time it was Mina who decided to tease her on the subject.
"Why are you like this?", Momo whined with a sigh.
"I think that's enough for today", said Kyouka, finally deciding to come to her friend's rescue. "Besides, you wouldn't want Momo to cancel the group study would you?", the punk girl threatened with a smug smirk on her face.
Looks of pure shock mixed with terror made their way onto Mina's and Tooru's faces, as they were pretty sure that without their Vice Rep's help they would fail nearly half their classes.
Yaoyorozu was thankful that none of them knew that she was unable to refuse when someone asked for help and decided to breathe a sigh of relief.
Though she made a mental note not to think about her crush too much when around others. She didn't want to blurt out what she felt towards Izuku.
The girls decided to change the subject and asked Momo to tell about their presentation. It took her a few minutes to explain everything, which was enough for Midoriya to come back.
Yaoyorozu was sure that he would just go back to sparring with Kirishima to help him with keeping his Hardening up despite being continuously under assault or just lift weights like he usually did.
She was surprised when instead of training Izuku started walking from student to student and engaging in a short conversation before proceeding to the next person. The girls observed him as he did a full circle around the field before going to them.
"Resting I see?", he questioned with that bright smile of his.
"Yeah, we thought that a little break would be good for us", Mina answered with a smile of her own.
"Good thinking. We should all watch out not to overexert ourselves or it'll have a negative impact on our performance in the upcoming festival!", the greenette reasoned and his smile was coupled with a look full of determination.
"Our thoughts exactly", agreed Ochako as the rest of the girls nodded.
"By the way, how are all of you doing?", the student asked as he sat down next to Momo.
"I'm trying to strengthen my legs in order to jump higher and run faster", Tsu was the first one to answer and was quickly followed up by Tooru, who worked on her stamina.
"I'm looking for new ways to use my acid", cut in Ashido with excitement.
"Did you think to use your acid defensively to like shoot down projectiles or something?", Midoriya asked after thinking for a few moments.
"Well… I-I haven't, but it seems to be a little bit on the advanced side, don't you think?", the pink skinned girl answered. The idea sounded amazing, but was probably far out of her league, at least for now.
"Right, my bad. Although I'm sure that you'll be able to perform much more complicated moves", he reassured her and the girls started wondering if his real Quirk wasn't somehow related to his smile.
"T-thanks, Midori", Pinky answered shyly at his praise. Unbeknownst to other girls, she too might have something similar to a crush on the guy. It wasn't her fault that she was a sucker for romance and he seemed to be a master in an old technique called 'accidental flirt'. Which he utilised very casually and very often.
"I'm working on extending my weight limit and trying not to return my breakfast as soon as I use my Quirk", Ochako spoke up as she looked away in embarrassment.
"And I'm trying to work on using my earlobes as little whips, though it hurts like hell when I hit with the tips", Kyouka admitted and flopped onto her back.
"So why don't you try using them more like Mister Aizawa?", the greenette suggested and then continued with a short explanation once she sat up. "Imagine him using his scarf to restrain his opponents instead of direct attacks. You could do the same with your Quirk. Use your earlobes as a distraction to get up close and engage in hand to hand combat"
Jirou thought about the suggestion and tried to picture herself doing moves that were vaguely similar to Eraserhead's.
"You know, that's actually not a bad idea", the rocker stated after a few moments. "I think I'll try that after we finish our little break", she added and smiled at him. "Thanks Midoriya"
"You don't have to thank me Jirou. It's my duty as the Class Representative after all!", he pumped his fist into the air as he said that and then stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to my own training!"
And with that, he walked away. The girls heard him yell 'Kirishima, wanna spar?!' and the redhead's eager response before the two engaged in hand to hand combat.
"Jeez, sometimes I start to question if he has the ability to slow down for a second", Mina muttered loud enough for the rest of the group to hear.
"What do you mean?", asked Momo, who was possibly the most confused one in their group.
"Think about it. Have seen him relax at all in the last month or two?", the pink skinned girl questioned and the girls tried to remember Midoriya not doing anything related to training or studying.
"Nope, I have nothing", Tooru was first to give up.
The rest of the girls quickly realized that he really did spend nearly all of his time training or studying. Yaoyorozu too acknowledged it, which made her feel dumb for not realizing it sooner.
"It's like he thinks that the world will stop spinning without him", Ochako commented.
"I-It's not like that", defended the heiress and the girls turned to face her, clearly waiting for her side of the coin. With a deep sigh, she started explaining. "I think that he's still beating himself over the fact that he let us get hurt back at the USJ"
"That's stupid. It's not like he had any chance to know what was going to happen", Mina cut in, visibly annoyed.
"It could be something related to his previous Quirklesness", Tsuyu said, which caught the girls' attention. "What if he thought that he was useless because he didn't have any power to help us?"
"He may have been Quirkless, but he still was like the third strongest person in our class", Tooru said as soon as Tsu finished her explanation.
"Whatever the case, the problem is simple. Midoriya needs to chill out or he will burn out", stated Jirou, who stayed silent for most of the conversation.
The girls couldn't help but agree with her statement as a new sense of worry overcame the Yaoyorozu heiress.
"Midoriya…"
Thanks to Mina point out his self destructive behavior, Yaoyorozu made sure to pay attention to Izuku for the next month. Each day was similar.
Midoriya would simply drop whatever he was doing and start walking around the training field, talking with their classmates. He would give out pointers, tips and ideas to them, which they were grateful for. Then he would address some of their brawlers and asked for a spar or go to Iida and set up a race to see how they fared against each other in terms of speed and stamina.
Momo wanted to confront him more than anything, but couldn't find the courage to do so. "What if I'm just imagining things or overreacting? And wouldn't me observing him technically count as stalking?", she thought to herself each time.
Midoriya was an intelligent and somewhat responsible man. He knew how to take care of himself, right?
She didn't have time to think about all of this as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She and her classmates were currently waiting for Present Mic to finish his opening speech.
Yaoyorozu had no idea how this last month ended this quickly. It was currently the 20th of March, the first day of spring, which meant that today was the day for the UA Sports Festival to begin. The first year students always opened the event on the first day. And then their upperclassmen would have their own competitions on the following two days.
All of the gathered students wore standard PE Uniforms, since only the Hero Course students had costumes, which could give them the upper hand when facing against people from other Courses. This way, everyone had somewhat equal chance to make a name for himself.
"Midoriya", she heard Todoroki speak loud and clear, his voice silencing the hushed conversation of his peers.
"Huh?", the green haired student turned in the direction of one of his rivals.
"I think it's clear that I always was and still am the strongest student in our year. But you somehow managed to best me with your drive and dedication. I just wanted to tell you, that no matter what you do, I'll win the Sports Festival", the Dual Quirked individual then pointed a finger in Midoriya's direction, almost poking him in the chest in the process. "You can treat this as a declaration of war"
The situation seemed to be quite tense, until Izuku smiled Shoto and pointed his own finger in Todoroki's direction.
"And I'm sending this declaration straight back", determination was written all over his face as per usual.
"Oi, fuckers! Don't forget about the number one in the room!", exploded, punch intended, Bakugo before walking up to his rivals. "If you want to declare war on someone than it should be me you idiots!"
"A fated battle between rivals!", Ochako muttered with excitement.
"It's time to begin the Festival! Let's give a 'YEAH!' to our first years!", the booming voice of Present Mic cut in through the intercom.
"Let's go everyone!", Midoriya shouted as he pumped his fist into the air.
His classmates followed him out of the waiting room and they made their way towards the wide hallway, that led into the stadium. They were quickly joined by class 1-B, with Kendo catching up to Midoriya at the front.
"Welcome the Hero Course students of classes 1-A and 1-B led by their respective Class Representatives Midoriya Izuku and Kendo Itsuka!", Mic shouted as soon as the heroes in training emerged from the tunnel.
Loud cheers erupted from the thousands of people gathered in the stadium and didn't subside even as Present Mic started introducing the other courses.
"This whole thing is definitely focused on the Hero Course, no matter how you look at it…", Midoriya sighed internally and focused on Midnight who made her way onto the small stage.
"And this years referee for the first years will be your favourite Heroine in the whole hero industry! Welcome Midnight!", she was introduced by Present Mic, though most of the students doubted that she needed to be introduced, since she was really popular despite focusing on teaching at UA. Mineta definitely knew who she was…
"And now is the time for a few words from the representative!", Midnight announced and continued once the cheers died down. "Will Izuku Midoriya please make his way onto the stage?!"
The crowd cheered once more, while the green haired student just stood there unresponsive, which was almost immediately spotted by Kendo, who started giggling.
"You forgot about this, didn't you?", she questioned as she covered her mouth. "Or did Momo forget to tell you about this?", and now she turned to 1-A's Vice Rep, who blushed immensely.
"I-I may have f-forgotten about this little detail…", Momo admitted as she scratched her cheek nervously. "I'm sorry Midoriya", she apologised while looking at Izuku.
"It's okay", he stated with calmness in his voice. He quickly looked back at her and flashed her a smile along with a single thumb up. "Why? Because I'm here"
"Yes, and you should be there hot stuff!", commented Setsuna while pointing in Midnight's direction, which made the other green haired student quickly make his way over to the small platform.
He stood next to the microphone, thinking about what he would want to say and inspiration found him immediately.
"There's so much that I would like to tell you, but I'm going to keep my speech short", his voice echoed inside the stadium, no one dared to speak. "I want all of you to give it everything you have! Show us your dedication and push yourselves to your limits! And when you do, go beyond. Everybody with me!", Midoriya shouted and pumped his fist into the air. "Plus Ultra!", the audience roared in applause as the green haired student made his way back to his peers.
"That was so metal!", yelled Tetsutetsu.
"I know right, so manly!", agreed standing next to him Kirishima.
"Thank you Midoriya for your fiery speech! Even I feel energized!", shouted Midnight once the crowd settled down. "Now, let's see what will be the first event of this year's festival!"
All eyes turned to the screen behind the R-rated Heroine, where the words 'Obstacle Race' appeared.
The UA Sports Festival has begun.
You know it, you hate, what is it? It's a cliffhanger! Though not really
See ya next time ;D