Izuku was very excited!
It was time for the third game!
There were two ways to win the game, you either had to catch your friend or you had to make them leave before you.
This was a lot like the games he played with Kachan where it was important not to get caught. He was excited to wrestle with his friends and people who weren't his friends yet.
When it was time for the games to start he hopped outside and bounced around and squeaked in excitement when everyone cheered.
He took one very big jump and landed on the square that they would have their game on. The grass would have been better, but he figured it didn't matter too much.
The person he got to play with was a boy with purple hair and looked like he wanted a nap. Izuku knows naps are very important and hopes he gets one after they play the game.
The boy seems very upset about facing Izuku, something about his quirk not working on animals.
But that didn't matter because the game started so Izuku started to run and jump around the other boy while honking happily.
Aizawa honestly felt bad for Shinso, he could absolutely relate to a student that had a quirk that didn't do anything against robots. Now he was up against one of the only students that this quirk didn't work on at all.
He tried to talk the kid up a little bit by saying a bit about how the entrance exam was flawed and explained how powerful the kid's quirk was. But that only did so much when everyone was actively watching his opponent toy with him.
He knew that Izuku didn't mean any harm and most certainly didn't think it was rude to simply run around your opponent instead of just winning what should've been a quick fight.
Midoriya was clearly here to have fun today, and maybe the other students could learn something from him. Sure it's important to show off to the heroes and get internships, but this is a festival not a gladiator ring, and some students seem to forget that.
He watched as Shinso dove again, trying to catch the rabbit that was clearly enjoying what had turned into a game of tag with Shinso doing everything he could to try and get a hold of the tiny creature.
Finally, Shinso tripped during his most recent attempt to catch Midoriya, and the rabbit took this opportunity to sit on Shinso's back, completely immobilizing him.
He knew this would be a humiliating loss for the gen ed student, but Aizawa would still be submitting his recommendation for the student's transfer into heroics.
Izuku bounced back and forth as he watched his friends play their games. Todoroki didn't seem very good at having fun. Instead he just made a lot of ice. But that's ok, he was with Todoroki next, and he would try to help even if the human seemed confused a lot of the time.
He chewed on some lettuce while Iida ran around with the girl who had funny eyes and was very excited.
She was good at having fun!
Iida wasn't as good at it.
He could tell because only the pink haired girl was smiling and laughing, and that was dumb.
Everyone should be smiling.
He saw Momo play with Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. But Momo seemed very sad when she left.
He would find her and make her less sad!
Izuku bounded down the halls, paused and sniffed the air, then he kept running.
After running around a lot of halls he found her sitting on the floor and crying.
That's not good!
He quickly went over and curled up in her lap.
"Huh? Oh, hello Midoriya." She wiped tears off her face and tried to smile.
He nuzzled into her to help her feel better. It's what his mom did when he was sad.
"You don't need to worry about me, I'll be ok."
He looked up into her eyes before nuzzling her more, because she was definitely still sad.
"I guess that wasn't very convincing?" She started to pet his ears and it felt very nice. "It's just really frustrating, you know? My parents never wanted me to be a hero, they wanted me to join the family business, but I told them I would be an amazing hero instead. And then I lost so easily. How can I convince them I'll be a good enough hero if I can't even prove it to myself?"
She sighed as she continued to pet him, "But I suppose it was never enough for them anyways. Never smart enough. Never charismatic enough. Never pretty enough. So why would I be heroic enough? I guess if nothing is good enough, then I'll just have to do my best."
He looked up at her and licked her hand.
She laughed softly, "Thanks Midoriya, you should definitely count as a therapy animal. But I think it's almost time for your next match, so you should head to the waiting room."
He had no idea where he was, or where the waiting room was, so he just looked at her with his head tilted to the side.
"Alright, I'll show you how to get there."
He hopped alongside her but they stopped when they ran into a very large flaming man.
The man didn't seem upset by the fire, so maybe it was supposed to be there?
"Disgraceful, I can't believe UA has lowered itself to the point of letting vermin compete alongside my creation."
Izuku didn't like this man, and the smoke he made smelled funny, so he sneezed on him then kept walking.
The fire-man kept yelling words, but he decided to not listen and instead move faster away from him.
Momo chuckled a little, "Well, here we are, when they call your name you go right over there. Now try not to sneeze on anymore heroes while I'm gone, okay?"
That man was a hero?
He didn't think heroes were that grumpy.
Izuku bounced around a little bit, and was very excited and ready once he was called out.
He hoped he could have fun with Todoroki too!
He seemed like he needed fun.
Once he was outside people started cheering again!
Yay!
They were so excited!
He was also excited because they were excited!
He looked across the field to see his new and confusing friend.
Todoroki wasn't excited?!
Izuku just assumes that is because he is a confusing person who doesn't make sense.
Then they were told to start, so he jumped up into the air toward his new friend.
There was a lot of ice now!
He kicked the ice really hard so it broke.
He tried to run at Todoroki again, but then a lot of ice came at him again!
There was a lot of throwing and breaking ice going back and forth.
Wait!
Todoroki looks bad!
He was too cold and Izuku had lost an uncle to being too cold.
But Todoroki could make fire that would make him not cold.
Izuku thought really hard, trying to make sense of the situation, then he figured it out.
Todoroki was odd, but had always been polite, so being polite was important to him
It's impolite to use someone else's things
Todoroki has a hard time remember what his body is (has previously thought he was a country)
His father apparently has fire too and made the mistake to think they were the same flames
He thinks that his fire powers are his fathers not his own and won't use them because that would be rude even if it hurts him to not use it
Izuku realized he needs to tell Todoroki that the power is his or else he will get too cold!
He doesn't have his keyboard for speaking human, so maybe if he speaks rabbit loud enough Todoroki will figure it out?
At first it doesn't work and he just keeps breaking ice so he can get closer.
Then it works!
A hero with bunny ears stands up on the railing and yells down at them over the rest of the crowd.
"HE'S SAYING IT'S YOUR POWER, YOU IDIOT!"
Todoroki paused, staring at Izuku with his eyes wide, then he looked down at his own hands.
Todoroki seemed to think for a little bit before smiling.
His left side was suddenly very much on fire, "You must be crazy, helping your opponent in a fight."
Todoroki seemed to still be confused, since Aizawa told them they were playing games, not fighting. But at least he figured out that he was in his own body and that his fire was his.
Izuku thought Todoroki's fire was prettier than other fires, which were all scary and not at all pretty. Then the fire started coming towards him and he changed his mind back that all fire was scary.
He didn't get hit by the fire, but he was suddenly launched really fast after there was an exploding sound.
Then he hit the wall really hard and it became nap time again.
He woke up next to the small wrinkly lady who gives sleepy kisses.
"Hello there, darling. Did you have a nice rest?"
He chirped happily, because he did have a nice nap and he felt very rested now.
"That's wonderful, I made sure to give you a healing kiss, but please let me know if anything hurts or feels bad. Unless you have any issues you can go back to your friends."
Fantastic!
He hopped away and followed the signs this time and found all his friends!
He jumped up in Koda's arms so he could tell him about how excited and happy he was in case he didn't know.
Apparently it was time for Kachan and Todoroki to play their game.
Kachan was yelling a lot, but he was pretty sure that just meant he was having fun since he always yelled when they played too.
There were a lot of loud noises, which made sense since Kachan was a loud human. Eventually Kachan won, but seemed mad about it for some reason. That also made sense since Kachan was angry a lot.
When it was time for the award ceremony he was very excited because all of the winners were friends!
First place was Kachan, his loudest friend.
Second place was Todoroki, his confused friend.
Third place was Tokoyami, who was two friends in one.
Apparently Iida, his fastest friend, was also supposed to be there but had to do something important.
Wait!
Why was Kachan tied up?!
Was someone trying to hurt Kachan?!
He clearly didn't want to get tied up, but no one was doing anything.
Izuku started squirming in Koda's arms so he could go down and free Kachan.
Then he heard Koda's quiet voice.
"It's ok Izuku, he's safe, they just don't want him to run off before the ceremony is done."
Izuku whined a little bit more, but calmed down and just watched the rest.
Then they were all given shiny things.
He wanted a shiny thing!
He would have tried harder if he knew he could have gotten a shiny thing! Shiny things are fantastic!