"You idiot!"

Shinsou gave Izuku a good knock on the head.

"Ow!"

"What happened to having the element of surprise!"

Izuku rubbed his sore head. "Well… my ability was gonna be revealed in one touch anyway."

Shinsou crossed his arms. "At least we both made it to the next round, I had to use my quirk one more time just to get past this one support course maniac with a jetpack. But I should be in the clear for now. at least"

Thanks to the giant last ditch ice glacier that Todoroki created, most of the mines around the area had actually been armed and went off, and thanks to Izuku negating the glacier it became a simple test of speed for the rest of the students.

"The first match for the first years is over! Who's ready for round 2?"

The crowd cheered as Midnight came up on stage and announced the next event.

"But before we continue we have some loose ends to tie up!" Midnight smiled cheekily at a certain green haired boy.

"Midoriya Izuku!"

"Eep!" Izuku instinctively yelped.

"Komori Kinoko!"

"!"

"These two had crossed the finish line at the same time! Both have the same claim to the glorious title of first place!" Midnight swiped her whip down. "But! The comitte and I had discussed this and come to the same conclusion! There can be only one on top!"

Midnight pointed to the two. "So you decide! Between the two of you, one must be the top and one must be the bottom!"

Izuku sweat-dropped at his teachers phrasing, but his mind was already made up. "Sensei! I can take sec-"

"Midoriya-san will take first place!"

"Eh?" Izuku's hand stopped before it could fully raise. "Komori-san? You…"

"If it wasn't for Midoriya-san I wouldn't even have touched the second obstacle, he was the one who ran back just to free me from the ice! So he should be the one to receive first place!"

"And if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it through the rest of the obstacles!" Izuku rebutted.

"But you did, and you carried my frost bitten butt all the way through them. If I'm to be a hero in the future then I must first accept that right now I am too weak, s-so t-the next t-time…" Komori daringly turned to face him.

"I-I-I w-will be the o-one to s-save you o-ok!?" The girl shakingly stuttered out.

Izuku looked at her and smiled, who was he to ignore her resolve to get stronger? If he turned down her offer now, he'd just be spitting in her face after she bravely declared her weakness in front of live TV.

"I'll hold it to you then, Komori-san."

The girl blushed up a storm and turned to hide her embarrassed gaze.

"What an adorable answer from our cute little button mushroom." Midnight cooed. "Alright then! Komori Kinoko takes second place! And the winner of the first round is Midoriya Izuku!"

The crowd rang out in applause once more for the officially declared winner.

"Only the top 42 will proceed to the next round! Speaking of which…" Midnight swiped her whip and the projection on the screen switched from the placings on the race to a spinning randomiser.

"Now, what will be in store for you next? Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What could it be? ~Ohh, the wait is killing me…"

*Ding*

The randomiser landed on 'Calvary Battle'.

"Calvary Battle? So a team event huh?" Shinsou mused.

"Allow me to explain!" The screen flickered as Midnight began her explanation. "The participants will form teams of 2 to 4 people as they see fit! Each player will be assigned a point value based on the results of the last match!"

Izuku put a hand to his chin in thought. "So where you place on the race actually does matter beyond getting past the 42 man limit. Well now I feel really bad about stealing Komori-san's first place, I wonder how much-"

"-And the point value assigned to first place is… TEN MILLION!"

"…Eh?" What did she just say?

Izuku slowly creaked his neck over to meet at the hungry gazes of the swarm of hero students, each and every one of them had their targets set on the Ten Million point man.

He was doomed, fucked, he'd lost before the match even began. What was he thinking coming into this sports festival? Trying to be a hero again? For an instant when his half working brain stopped thinking he thought, 'Hey, hero work actually pays good money. I need good money to raise Eri. Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone and fulfil my childhood dream too? What could possibly go wrong for this stupid, braindead Midoriya-san?'

Izuku sighed. "Such Misfortune…"

"Don't just mope there, we need a plan genius!"

"Well, easy for you to say! You're not the one with the target on thei- Wait, Shinsou-san?" Izuku turned to look at his only friend in school.

"You're planning on teaming up with me!?"

Shinsou scoffed. "Duh? Was there ever any doubt?"

"But you need to keep your quirk on the down low! Teaming up with me is basically the opposite of that! It's like confessing to someone in front of the whole school only to find out that the girl didn't even swing that way, but now everybody knows and keeps using that against you!"

Shinsou raised a brow. "That was oddly specific… But fuck it, no one else is gonna team up with me anyway. You and I are basically representing the entirety of Team Gen Ed here. Besides if I'm going down in this round, at least you're going down with me." Shinsou gave him a shit eating grin.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence…" Izuku deadpanned. "But anyway if we're going to have even a chance of getting through this round, we'll need more than just the dynamic underdog duo. We're up against Ka- the-the entire hero course here, we simply don't have the firepower to take them on. Your brainwashing needs very specific conditions to work, and my right hand can only defend us so much. We need someone who can provide mobility and combat support, preferably the defensive kind."

Shinsou and Izuku looked around the field, since they were the only Gen Ed students there the hero course students who already knew each other had formed their own groups with everybody's quirks in mind. Izuku noticed Todoroki and Kacchan in particular had garnered quite a crowd of powerful heroes.

"Umm, excuse me?"

Izuku turned to face the voice coming from a brown haired girl, but unlike Komori Kinoko who had a similar style of hair, this girl wore a permanent blush and her bangs weren't covering most of her eyes.

"Ah, I knew it! It's you!" The girl pointed.

"It's me? The idiot in first place thats way over his head, kind of me?"

"Eh? Oh, no no no I-I meant- Uhhh… It's you, you!"

"Eh?…" This conversation was going nowhere.

Shinsou decided to step in. "Look, umm… We're in a bit of a bind here so why don't you go back to you little hero team and Midoriya-san here will go on a date with you later ok?"

"EH!?" / "WHAT!?"

"N-N-NO! Y-You've got the wrong idea!"

"Yeah, where the hell did that come from!?" Izuku glared at the purple haired idiot.

Shinsou shrugged. "I'm just saying…"

"A-Anyway, I'm actually here to ask if you wanted to team up?"

"Huh?" / "Eh?"

"Wait why do you want to join our team? You do realise how fucked we are right?" Shinsou narrowed his eyes. "You really are trying to get in his pants."

"Shut it!" Izuku bonked him on the head. "But I agree with the first part, you do realise we are the only 2 Gen Ed students in a field of battle hungry heroes right? And that I basically have the sports festival equivalent of a hit-me sign, tied next to my name."

"B-But I know you're more than just an ordinary Gen Ed student! You saved my life after all."

"Wait what?" He saved her life? When?

"Back during the entrance exam, your arm got c-crushed trying to save me from the zero pointer!"

"Wait what?" Now it was Shinou's turn be surprised.

"…OHH!… It's you!" Izuku finally realised.

The girl nodded. "So is that a yes?"

Izuku was still a little sceptical. "But are you sure about joining us? It's one thing to team up with me as a thank you of sorts, but it's a whole-nother story when you're basically throwing all your classmates under the bus for a nobody like me. Not to mention the entire match."

The girl shook her head. "Well, the others probably formed their own teams already so I can't really go back… Plus I doubt they would want me in their team anyway. Bakugou is always yammering on about coming in first place in the entrance exam, while I came in last so they probably don't think the best of me. Besides, if we come up on top after all this, I wanna see the look on his face when 2 Gen Ed students and a last place loser beat him and his 'Baku-Squad'. "

Izuku winced and knew that it was a bad idea to piss off Kacchan, but regardless… "Welcome aboard then, umm…"

"Oh! Where are my manners! I'm Uraraka Ochako!" Uraraka offered him a hand.

Izuku grabbed and shook her hand with his right. "Welcome aboard Uraraka-san. I'm Midoriya Izuku, and this right here is Shinsou Hitoshi."

"Sup."

"Eh? Midoriya Izuku? I thought your name was Deku?"

Izuku scratched his head. "Ah, you probably heard that from Ka- Bakugou-san right?"

"Y-Yeah, he kept screaming at you after that last minute victory you pulled."

"Deku?" Shinsou questioned.

"Ignore that it's just what he used to call me when we were kids."

"Doesn't that mean useless." Shinsou's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah?"

"Eh!? I thought it was cool! Like Dekiru! できる(You can do it!)"

Izuku chuckled. "Is that so? Never thought about it that way before. You have an adorable way of thinking Uraraka-san. Like a neighbourhood bumpkin princess."

"Eh?…EH!? Princess!?" Uraraka blushed up a storm. "Wait, what do you mean bumpkin!?"

"Uhh, well-"

"HEY MR TEN MILLION!" A loud voice interrupted their rapidly derailing conversation.

A loud manic looking girl popped up right in front of the group, carrying what looked like the entirety of the hardware store along with her.

"Huh? You're that maniac with the jetpack!" Shinsou exclaimed.

"Yup! The name's Hatsume Mei! I don't really know you but if you're in first place, that means all eyes are gonna be on you!" Hatsume reached for her case full of support equipment. "That means if I join up with you, all eyes are gonna be on my super cute babies!" Hatsume leaned a little too close for Izuku's comfort.

"Babies?" Uraraka questioned.

"Woah, is that a jetpack? Wait, is that Buster Hero: Air Jet's jet pack!?"

"Ohoho! An eye for detail I see. Yup, right on the money, this design was based on Air Jet's very own. With a Hatsume twist to it of course."

Shinsou started rummaging through the equipment. "You're in."

"Eh? Just like that?" Izuku yelled.

"She has hero level equipment on her. Meaning if she joins our team, then we have hero level equipment to fight against hero level students. Except the one on our side of course."

"And, I come with advertising benefits!"

"Yeah, about that. We're actually trying to keep a low profile here…" Izuku sweat-dropped.

"We won't need to worry about that if we have this kind of equipment on hand, if anything all the attention will be on her and her 'babies' instead."

"Fair point, alright you're in."

"You won't regret it, Ten Million!"

"It's Midoriya actually."

"Midorian?"

"No."

"Midichlorian?"

"I'm not even gonna let this go any further."

"TIMES UP! Now then, can all teams get into position!" Midnight announced.

The calvary battle ensued, as Izuku chewed through another mouthful of popcorn.

It certainly got tense at times, but honestly as Izuku kept watching, he felt quite bored throughout the whole thing and even spaced out at times. Meanwhile Eri simply enjoyed her comfy seat in Izuku's lap, as they watched the carnage unfold.

"Izuku? Why did that loud boom boom boy keep trying the blast you?"

Izuku sweat-dropped. "Uhh, Kacchan was probably mad at me. Again."

"And why did Todo-todo look so scary?"

Izuku tried to piece it together with whatever he could recall. "Probably something to do with his dad or something?"

"So is this where you and Ocha-ocha became rabu rabu together?" Eri innocently asked.

"Eh? No, Eri we didn't become love love here." Honestly Izuku couldn't even remember when he got together with Ochako.

Eri tilted her head. "Oh, ok! But I liked the part where you won!"

Izuku scratched his head. "Yeah, still not sure how that happened… Again."

The speakers flared up again as the cheers of the crowd reverberated through the footage.

It was time for the end to begin.