After all of the training and preparation that I had gone through, I was finally ready for the upcoming sports festival. It was being held on a weekend so that more people could watch and go to the festival, which meant that I had to get up out of bed early.
After I had dragged myself out of bed, gotten dressed, and eaten breakfast, I was ready to go.
I said goodbye to my grandpa who wished me luck in the tournament, and he told me he would be watching. That sort of made my nervousness worse.
After a long walk to school, I finally arrived at the gates. Everyone was running inside excitedly, but I just stood there waiting. This was it, I had to prove to everyone that I wasn't weak. I had to prove it to myself.
I finally made my way inside and found that I was one of the last people to arrive in class even though I had ten minutes until the bell rang. Everybody was either talking to each other or psyching themselves up for the upcoming tournament.
I just sat at my desk and lay my head down on my arms, trying to rest and gain control of the butterflies flying in my stomach. If only I could see them, then I could swap them far, far away.
After the bell finally rang, everyone sat down in their seats. It was time to get serious. Mr Aizawa gave us a short speech on how important it was to do well in this festival, and that he believed that we would all be fine. I hoped he was right.
We made our way to the changing rooms so that we could get into our P.E clothes. Everyone was silent while changing. You could feel the stress in the air.
After that awkward moment, we all made our way to the huge arena that the festival was being held at. I walked in a group with Kirishima, Bakugo, Kaminari, and Sero. We didn't say a word as we made our way there.
After the short walk, we finally arrived at the arena. We were all led to the waiting room for our class, and we all sat down silently. I could see everyone psyching themselves for the upcoming events. A personal favourite of mine was how Mineta was literally trying to swallow his fear.
After a couple of minutes, I saw Todoroki stand up and start walking. Wait... he was walking towards me!
A few seconds later, he was just standing in front of me, staring me down.
"Hello, Todoroki. Are you okay? Can I help you with something?" I asked. He didn't move or seem to even hear me.
"If I'm thinking about this objectively, then I'm stronger than you," he said blatantly.
I was a little bit taken aback by his sudden statement.
"Hey, man, don't be like that. We all have to cheer each other on!" Kirishima said, putting his hand on Todoroki's shoulder. He brushed it off and turned towards me again.
"I will beat you in this tournament and show my dear dad that I can be the best without his powers," Todoroki said.
I realized then that I wasn't the only person who needed to win to prove to themselves and others they were strong. We were all going to have to fight each other to prove who really was the best.
"Okay, Todoroki. But you need to know something." I paused. "I'm going to win this too!" I said, a small smile forming on my face.
He made a small hmph before turning and sitting back down. I saw people mourning about Todoroki's sudden declaration of war, but I wasn't really bothered by it. It just meant that he thought that I was strong.
"That goes for everyone else too. We all have to win this, but only one of us can. Good luck to all of you!" I said to everyone. They all said thank you or good luck back to me.
I saw Bakugo sulking in his chair, and decided to see what was wrong with him. He needed to be ready for this, and he had helped me earlier so I thought that I should help him as well.
"Hey, Bakugo, what's wrong?" I asked him. He turned with a snarl, a frown etched on his face.
"Nothings wrong, pretty-boy. I'm just mad that half-and-half declared war on the wrong person. I'm going to be the indisputable winner of this stupid competition," he said with conviction.
"Well, good luck to you. I know you can do it." I told him.
"Of course I can, but you better not get in my way. I'll kill you," he told me back. I smiled at this. He seemed to be back to his angry muffin self.
A few minutes later, we were told that it was time to start the tournament. We all headed out as a group.
In UA, the tournament is divided between the first, second, and third-year students. The eight classes, comprised of hero, general studies, and support courses all competed in the tournament. The business studies group does not, but they do other activities while the tournament is going on. The classes walk on in order of letter, which means that we were first and foremost.
We were all walking through the tunnel that leads to the huge arena in silence. It was time to get serious.
Just as we all walked through the entrance, the huge crowd erupted in cheer.
"And here we have class 1-A! This gifted bunch of kids are the ones who went up against the villains and won! They are the contenders for the winner of this years tournament, folks!" I heard Present Mike announce. "They're your class too, aren't they Eraser Head?"
Wait, what?
"Yes, these are my students." I heard Mr Aizawa say. Was he announcing the games? Oh god.
Anyway,s after all of the classes gathered on the field, the moment I was dreading had to happen.
Midnight came up onto the stage in the middle of the arena and told us a little bit about the tournament. After she explained the basic rules, she said: "And now, can the first place entrance exam student, Robaato Riamu, please come up the stage."
Here we go. Basically, because I got first on the entrance exam, I had to say a few words before the tournament. No one else knew about this, and Kirishima patted me on the back, telling me good luck. He knew how shy I was.
I walked onto the stage, trying to remember the words that I had remembered for this very speech. My mind went blank. I would just have to wing it.
"Hello, everybody." I started. "While I might have gotten first on the hero course entrance exam, there are still many other talented people at this school who did well on all the other exams. I didn't even win by that much, one point I think to Katsuki Bakugo, who I'm sure that you will see more of soon. Anyways, good luck to everyone, I wish you all the best of luck. Enjoy!" I said, smiling at the audience.
Everyone started cheering, which was a bit overwhelming. I walked off of the stage quickly, trying to fade back into the crowd of students.
"Finally, a hero course student who gets it isn't all about them." I heard someone say.
"Yeah, he seems pretty nice. I'm sort of happy he got first on the exam." someone else said.
"Great job, Ri!" I heard Kirishima say as he clapped me on the back.
"Yeah, you did great!" Uraraka said, smiling at me.
"Thanks, everyone. Let's..." I started, before getting cut off by Midnight.
"Thank you for the words, Robatto. Now, let me explain the first part of the tournament." She clicked a button, and a screen rose out of the ground. A list of games on it started spinning on the screen.
"What will it be? The suspense is killing me," she said.
Finally, the screen stopped on something that said Obstacle Course. What did that mean?
"Ah, here we are. The obstacle course, one of my favourites." the screen started to change, showing a long course with three checkpoints.
"A 2km run around the arena, filled with challenges waiting to be tried. Anything goes as long as you stay on the path, you can even attack each other. How dastardly, it's making me all tingly." what was this women's problem. Also, someone should tell her to have a warning on that costume. Why was she the Procter for the first years?
Anyways, we all gathered at the from the arena that would lead us to the obstacle course. All the people were pushing each other around, but I just stood at the back, a plan already forming in my mind.
All I had to do was wait for the right opportunity.