The two weeks following Nagisa moving into the Midoriya house were hectic and stressful. The first day Izuku found a "mysterious" duffle bag on the front mat, which he promptly moved to Nagisa's new room. Karasuma-sensei came by and he and Nagisa filled out the necessary papers to petition for emancipation, which were filed and signed before Shiota-san went to the police about her missing son.
The first bad news was when she refused to let Nagisa in to collect the rest of his stuff.
But, well. Izuku didn't know anything about the break in the Shiota household had that very same night. Nor did he have any inclination to believe that the items taken from the apartment had been scattered to the homes of various friends and classmates before trickling their way into the Midoriya home.
Then of course came needing to change all of Nagisa's information and emergency contacts. And convince the school that Nagisa had been emancipated and he could actually do that.
All of that while trying to prepare for the Sports Festival and ignore Uraraka-san's concern over Kirishima-san's friendship with Bakugou, which was progressing nicely.
Which, finally, lead up to Izuku in the waiting room trying to ignore the chatter of his classmates as he ran through his plans one last time. Limited as they were.
He took a deep breath, releasing his stretch as he ran over everything in his head one more time. He knew the patterns. He knew the rules. The first event was going to be a free for all. Something that would cut out most of the competition and it was the place where the teachers were really watching to see if someone wasn't doing as well as they should. The second event was always a team event, and the third was one on one.
For the first and second events Izuku was just going to have to wing it. There were simply too many possibilities and too many restrictions on what Izuku could bring with him for it to matter at all. As much as he hated it, it was better to just keep what tools he had in reserve until the one on one matches. If he even got that far.
No. Izuku pushed that thought out of his head. He had trained. He was prepared. He could do this. The first event might be a free for all, but Izuku had a wide range of skills he could still fall back on, and strategy for the second event was what he specialized in. He was far from weak or useless without tools. He could do this. It was just the one-on-ones he needed to worry about. One bad match and he would be finished. But that was true for everyone, so no big deal there.
"Is everyone good and ready!" Iida-san yelled over the chatter. "The events are about to begin!"
Izuku moved to the front of the room. He should probably take over and do his job as class president before Iida-san got too into it.
"Bakugou-kun."
Izuku barely turned to keep Todoroki-san and Bakugou in his line of sight. He didn't expect much to happen, but at a time like this, with tensions running high, it was hard to tell for sure.
"Objectively speaking, I'm stronger than you," Todoroki-san continued. "More capable."
"Huh!?" Bakugou's head snapped up. "What the hell are you on about, Half-and-half!?"
Well, shit. Looks like this was going to be a bad one. Izuku shared a quick glance with Yaoyorozu-san across the room. She nodded to him and stood, stepping forward to intervene as Izuku stepped back. They'd talked about this after Iida-san tried to tell Bakugou to wear his tie. Bakugou wasn't inclined to listen to Izuku, and often got more volatile when Izuku tried to intervene, so they decided that Yaoyorozu-san would handle disputes involving Bakugou.
"I'm just saying," Todoroki-san said as though nothing was wrong. "I have the better quirk and more experience. I am going to beat you."
"Not with how you're using that quirk, you're sure as fuck not!"
"Ooh," Kaminari-san said, grinning in his corner, "a declaration of war between the two strongest!"
"Hey, man," Kirishima-san said, stepping in before Yaoyorozu-san could say anything. "Back off. You shouldn't be picking fights right before we go on."
"I'm not here to-" Todoroki-san cut himself off as he turned and caught Izuku watching him. "Right now, we're competing against each other. Not friends."
Looks like Todoroki-san hadn't quite come around to the "you need to make friends here" bit Izuku had given him earlier, but that honestly didn't matter to Izuku right now.
"Oi, eyes on me, Half-and-half." And Bakugou wasn't going to let this go. The blonde had stood up while Kirishima-san and Todoroki-san were talking and stepped into Todoroki-san's space. "Maybe you've got the experience. Maybe your quirk might be worth something if you actually used it right. But I'm going to beat your ass out there. You know why? Because you haven't got the guts. You don't have the conviction you need to win. So do us all a favor and stay out of the way of the real competitors. I want a real fight out there for first, and I know you aren't going to give it to me."
"Alright," Yaoyorozu-san finally said. "That's enough. Everyone on your feet. It's time for us to get out there."
The class cheered and were quickly moving out the door. Izuku hung back, letting Iida-san lead their classmates out for the time being. He watched as Yaoyorozu-san stepped forward, carefully placing herself between the two boys that were just a few misplaced words away from attacking each other right here, right now. When Todoroki-san finally turned and walked out, Izuku followed quietly, ignoring the small burst of explosions and a restrained yell of frustration behind them.
Jogging forward, Izuku made it to the front just before his class crossed the threshold onto the field. The crowd's cheering turning from a dull roar to a thunderous wall of sound, with Mic-sensei's commentary whipping them up even further. Izuku set his shoulders back, and his chin up, settling into a confident stride. The cameras were watching, and they needed to put on a show. Even as his heart beat out of his chest at the sudden reminder that he was being watched by most of Japan, he kept it all buried and locked down under a calm exterior.
One by one, the other classes were introduced as they flooded the field.
"And now," Midnight-sensei said from the stage above them when the last class came to a stop, "for the student pledge! Bakugou Katsuki from class 1-A! The stage is yours!"
"Right, must be because he placed first in the entrance exam," Sero-san muttered, as Bakugou stepped forward, forcefully knocking shoulders with Todoroki-san.
"The hero course entrance exam, you mean," one of the C class students huffed.
Bakugou was at the microphone now. Izuku wondered what he was going to say. Public speaking wasn't exactly one of his strong suits, but he'd changed since the last time something like this had happened.
"I look forward to beating every single one of you," he said. "Make sure you put up a good fight."
The students roared in indignation.
Okay, so maybe he hadn't changed that much. Izuku knew what he was doing, but that didn't mean he agreed with it or appreciated how Bakugou had just set every single first year against their class. Asshole.
Was Bakugou walking towards him? Yup. God dammit. There goes ignoring everything for the day.
"Hope you haven't forgotten about midterms," Bakugou muttered, coming to a stop next to Izuku, "'cause I'm gonna crush you there, too."
Izuku snorted softly. Of all the things Bakugou could have said, that was the last thing he had expected. It was familiar. It was simple. Back to basics. Back to the best of Aldera. Izuku grinned back at Bakugou. "We'll just have to wait and see," he said. "I seem to recall placing above you in our last final."
Bakugou's grin turned feral and he moved on. There wasn't anything left to say.
"Now, without any further delay, let's get the first event started!" Midnight-sensei said, cracking her whip for their attention. "This is the qualifiers. It's in this stage that so many are sent home every year. For our opening act this year we have…" Midnight-sensei paused for dramatic effect as the screen behind her showed a spinning assortment of events, coming to a stop on- "an obstacle course!"
Izuku felt his grin growing again. He could work with this. Depending on exactly what kind of obstacles UA had decided to use, Izuku either wasn't really going to be too delayed, or he was going to outstrip his competition by a long shot.
"It's a race between all eleven classes." A wall not far from them folded up, revealing a new exit. "The course is a four-kilometer track around the stadium itself! And don't forget, UA preaches freedom in all things! So long as you don't leave the track, everything is fair game!" The opening was too small, and it looked like it got narrower as it went. "Racers, to your positions!"
One of the lights went off.
Izuku was not going to let himself be caught in the back. That would kill his chances. He could not lose here.
The second light was off.
Just a little more.
The last light, a loud horn, and they were off. Iida-san, Bakugou, and Todoroki-san were ahead of them in an instant, with Izuku just staying in front of the main crowd. He could hear them crashing into each other and yelling loudly behind him as they were pressed against the walls.
The temperature dropped. Shit. Izuku jumped as Todoroki-san created a layer of ice across the ground. It crawled up the feet of the other students. Well, the feet of everyone that wasn't in 1-A.
1-A did know how Todoroki-kun worked after all and had reacted just in time as they felt the chill, climbing over the other competitors in the process.
Izuku kept himself up, using a gen ed kid with some limited speed quirk that had been frozen to the ground as a platform to launch off of. He laughed as he heard Bakugou's angry yelling and explosions. It wasn't like they really had much advantage yet. They needed to learn to pay attention to the other people around them.
Izuku rolled his landing, keeping his forward momentum and avoiding slipping on the thin layer of ice that crunched under him. Izuku threw a brief glance over his shoulder. The other students were breaking out already, shaking off the cold and pressing forward. Todoroki-san must not have made it very thick.
Oh, well. Izuku needed to keep his eyes on the next task. The next problem. Just around the corner.
"Ha! Now, it's my turn!" Mineta-san yelled, jumping forward. He reached up to his hair. "Get a taste of my killer—"
Mineta-san was struck from the side and launched backwards by a familiar green metal limb.
"Multiple targets acquired," the one-pointer said, turning to face the growing crowd of students.
"Every obstacle course needs obstacles!" Mic-sensei said, his voice carried over the arena by speakers everywhere. "Starting with our first barrier, Robo Inferno!"
Wow, that was cheesy. Apt, but cheesy. Izuku could probably wiggle his way through this mass of enemies, but not with how they were spaced out right now, and especially not if he went first. They'd be on him in seconds. Sure, he could just go around the zero-pointers, but the smaller ones were a problem. Speaking of which, that was a lot of zero-pointers. How did they have that many to just throw at them like this?
That wasn't important. He needed an opening, then he could go. Which meant he had to wait for someone else.
He hated this.
"So these are the faux villains they used for everyone else's test?" Todoroki-san muttered, glancing up, even as he began to kneel and press his hand to the ground. Izuku stepped back. "Kinda wish they'd prepared something a little more threatening. Especially because dear old Dad is watching." The ice burst forward, flying forward across the ground and freezing the zero-pointer in place.
Izuku stepped even farther back, moving to go around the side. Todoroki-san was drawing the attention of the smaller enemies down the middle, all while he'd set up a clear trap to cover his path behind him. Even before the other competitors could take advantage of the opening, the zero-pointers collapsed into a pile of junk.
Mic-sensei continued commenting, but Izuku brushed it off as he pressed forward. Just as he thought, there was an opening there that he could take advantage of. The bad news was it wasn't as clear as he'd thought it would be, and there were a few determined robots blocking his path. Nothing too major. They were easy to get around, but it would still slow him down.
One of the one-pointers didn't take kindly to Izuku ignoring them, chasing close behind. Izuku glanced around, as the bot got closer, spotting a piece of scrap with a faint bit of ice left over from Todoroki-san's destruction. He scooped it up and spun to face the enemy. He turned and planted his feet, levering the edge of the metal into the joint of the robot as he ducked under its arm, slicing the limb off.
Huh. That was useful. He should probably hang onto this. And thank Karasuma-sensei for suggesting he learn how to use improvised weaponry. The good news was it had a strap in it that he could tie off and sling over his shoulder. It would distribute its weight better that way and be much less cumbersome to carry.
Izuku settled into a pace just short of his sprint. An easy pace he could keep for a while without draining himself, but he certainly wouldn't fall behind either. Izuku added endurance training to the list of things he needed to thank Karasuma-sensei for.
A boom echoed behind him. Probably Yaoyorozu-san using her quirk to make artillery to take out the robots. Izuku kept running.
Rounding the next corner, Izuku came to the next barrier. And then he laughed. A small group had gathered near the edge, watching Todoroki-san skate across with his ice and Bakugou fly overhead.
Izuku on the other hand, didn't even pause. He laughed and whooped as he stepped forward, not breaking his stride as he stepped onto the metal cable stretching from pillar to pillar.
"Now what's this?" Mic-sensei said. "Midoriya Izuku of class 1-A isn't even hesitating. Where did that kid get that kind of balance?"
Izuku laughed louder, planning his route. First to one pillar, then the next, never slowing and never stopping. If someone was blocking his way, Izuku just stepped forward, and his movement was enough to cause them to fall. This gap might be a challenge for most, something requiring creativity or caution, but for Izuku, it was an easy way for him to show off some basic physical skills.
By the time Izuku had gotten to the other side. Those that had stopped had gotten their wits back and were well on their way, but Izuku didn't glance back this time. He needed to get moving. Maybe he'd give Bakugou and Todoroki-san a little reminder that he was competing here, too.
The third obstacle was… a much bigger problem for Izuku. Then again, a minefield was proving to be a problem for everyone. The only people ahead of Izuku at this point were Bakugou, Todoroki-san, and Iida-san, but the others weren't far behind. As in, already catching up and starting to pick their way through. Which left Izuku with limited time to make a decision about how to cross the minefield.
So he did the impulsive thing.
He pulled the piece of metal off his back, grateful it was coming in handy and he didn't just lug this thing across a four-kilometer track. A few brief calculations in his head, and he jumped, getting the metal under his feet before slamming it into the ground, using his weight and the strap tied to it for extra control.
He hoped this worked.
The first mine went off, the explosion jerking the metal under him (why did he do this?) and rattling his bones. It pushed him up. The metal bucked and Izuku leaned carefully, letting his balance and weight guide him forward, using the explosion as propulsion.
The next mine went off. It was smoother this time, adding to his momentum. Izuku twisted his weight slightly, aiming himself to the nearest mine.
A third mine went off, and a fourth. He was going faster. With each one it was simultaneously easier and harder to control. The metal bucked less, but the speed made it dangerous and difficult to change directions as he surfed the shock waves and slid through the air and over the ground, a plume of pink smoke in his wake.
"What the heck is that!? Midoriya-kun is… is riding the mines! Looks like he's going to pass our front runners with almost no effort at all!"
Izuku couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up at Mic-sensei's shocked commentary. Even with Bakugou and Todoroki-san turning back to see for themselves, Izuku kept laughing, a wide smile stretching his lips.
(To be honest, their faces actually made him laugh harder, not that he was ever going to tell Bakugou that. Izuku liked being able to walk, thank you very much.)
Aw, shit. He was probably going to hit them. Izuku shifted his weight, angling slightly to try and just barely miss them, going right to avoid Bakugou's explosions (and as much of Todoroki-san's ice as he could).
"Looks like our leaders have stopped fighting each other to focus on their new challenger!" Present Mic-sensei went on. "And he's passed them!"
"De- What the hell, you rotten bastard!" Bakugou's yell was punctuated with twin explosions as the blonde boy almost certainly launched himself forward.
"Nothing like a common enemy to get people going!"
Todoroki-san made a path of ice, coating the ground and covering the mines in front of them. Izuku grit his teeth as his… sled slammed into the ground.
"Looks like Todoroki-kun's ice stopped Midoriya-kun's wild ride of awesome!"
Well, yes and no. Izuku thought to himself in the seconds between Mic-sensei's announcement, and the approaching catastrophe. The ice was thick enough to stop Izuku from setting off the mines as he passed over them, and thick enough to hold Todoroki-san, but it was definitely not thick enough to handle the stress of being hit at god knows what speed by a teenage boy and a chunk of metal thick enough to have come off an armored tank.
And Izuku's weight was all wrong for an explosion like that.
The mine went off, bucking the metal and sending Izuku flying. He rolled and tumbled, setting off a few more mines until he crossed into the final stretch between him and victory. He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the deep ache in his legs and the stinging pain across his body.
(Probably road rash, his brain supplied, and a lot of scraped skin. No broken bones.)
He kept running.
"Holy crap, this kid's still going! Even after he got knocked around by those mines at high speed, he's still up and running! What are you teaching these kids, Eraserhead!"
"That one came that way."
Aizawa-sensei was in the commentator's booth? Not important right now. Keep moving. Izuku probably didn't have to worry too much about Todoroki-san at this point, not with the mine explosions having broken his ice path and probably blocked him for a little while, but Bakugou had no such concerns.
And Izuku wanted to win. Wanted Bakugou to kiss his ass, as Karma and Nakamura would likely say.
It had been a while since he got this into a competition.
Even now, tuning out Mic-sensei and running a dead sprint to the finish, Izuku could hear Bakugou coming up behind him. Come on, faster.
Heat and fire and noise ruffled Izuku's hair. Bakugou descended in fiery anger. He was in the lead.
No.
Izuku wasn't just going to let him.
Izuku reached out and grabbed Bakugou's ankle. It was simple really. Like plucking a piece of fruit off a branch. If the piece of fruit swore heavily, was moving at several dozen kilometers per hour, and tried to break his fingers.
The change in weight caused Bakugou to plummet to the ground, slamming into it to at the very least knocked the wind out of him, if not worse.
Izuku jumped over the gasping pile of limbs and anger and kept moving forward, crossing the finish line just in time to be tackled to the ground as Bakugou plowed into him.
"And Midoriya-kun crosses the finish line first, with Bakugou-kun not even a second behind! What a finish! Can you believe it!? I think that's the closest finish we've had in years! Maybe even the closest in Sports Festival history!"
"Definitely closer than anything I've ever seen," Aizawa-sensei interrupted. "We'll have to check the records to know for sure."
Heh. The closest race in Sports Festival history, and it was won by a quirkless kid with more guts than was healthy. If only Korosensei could see him now.
Izuku's smile fell. Right. Korosensei.
"Fuck you," Bakugou panted, still on top of Izuku, "you shitty nerd."
Izuku groaned. "Get off me, Bakugou."
"Make me."
Izuku fell limp on the ground. He was not wasting energy on this. If Bakugou wanted to stay there, by all means, he could.
"Seriously, this is all it takes to pin you?" Bakugou muttered as he flopped to the side.
Izuku rolled the other way, finally freed from Bakugou's weight. "Fuck you," he shot back.
Several minutes later, and the last of the qualifiers were crossing the finish line. Izuku had taken the time to stretch out, get his breath back, and check over his injuries. He was sore just about everywhere, with his legs being particularly unhappy about what he'd put them through, but the worst of it was definitely the scrapes that were lightly oozing blood. Overall, Izuku was fine and could definitely hold off on seeing Recovery Girl-sensei until after the second round.
Brushing aside the dull pain, Izuku turned his attention to his other competitors. The second round was always a group competition of some sort. That and Izuku needed to start collecting information in general. He knew where to place his own classmates in terms of who to watch out for—mostly, he had yet to see Kirishima-san use One for All, so he wasn't sure how that would affect things—but he knew next to nothing about class 1-B. Shiozaki-san, Honenuki-san, Tetsutetsu-san, and Awase-san all caught his attention by making it into the top half of competitors. Meanwhile the purple haired boy from before (Shinsou Hitoshi of 1-C, according to Mic-sensei) crossed the finish looking like he'd only gone for a walk. There was also a girl from 1-H that looked like she'd been blown up.
Izuku didn't outright discount the others, but he didn't have enough information to get anything off of them. Maybe their quirks were poorly suited to the course—which Izuku doubted, considering how well he'd managed without one—or maybe there was something else at play. Either way, they likely weren't anyone Izuku needed to pay attention too. Other than maybe the one blonde kid that looked way too smug for someone that finished in the bottom third. Come to think of it, there really should have been a more even spread between classes A and B, but that was a problem for later.
"Alright!" Midnight-sensei said, taking over from Mic-sensei. "The top forty-two finishers from this round will be moving on! Those of you who placed lower, don't worry too much! You've still got things planned for you!"
Some kind of consolation round? The Sports Festival never allowed disqualified participants to fight their way back in. Or maybe some kind of break event? Izuku shook the thoughts off, he needed to focus.
"Now's when we really get started! Everyone's watching, so make sure to give it your all!" Midnight-sensei continued. "On to the second event! I know what it is, but I bet the suspense is just killing you! Up next is…" she paused dramatically and waited for the screen to flash the title, "the Cavalry Battle!"
Team event. A few of Izuku's classmates sounded confused.
"Everyone will form up into teams of two to four members, using a horse and rider formation. The rules are really the same as a normal Cavalry Battle, but with one twist: you have all been assigned point values based on how you placed in the last event!"
Izuku had a bad feeling about this.
"Oh, so we're earning points like we did in the entrance exam?" Satou-san said. "Seems easy enough."
"And each team's value depends on its members!" Hagakure-san finished.
Izuku had a really bad feeling about this. There were always risks to being at the top. Especially in hero work. There was no way UA wasn't going to play that up.
"If you let me talk we'd be through this by now!" Midnight-sensei snapped, cracking her whip. A second later and her composure was back. "And yes, that's right. You're point values start at five at the bottom and go up from there. So forty-second is worth five and forty-first is worth ten. And there's one last little surprise! Our first place participant is worth ten million points!" Midnight-sensei pointed her whip at him and winked.
Izuku could feel the air shift around him. One moment he was just another member of the crowd, the next it was open season. Ten million points. Everyone was going to be after him.
And if he was a big target, that would also make him a liability. Shit. He really should have held back some in the first round, let someone else take this crap. Instead he just had to go and show off, didn't he?
No, back on topic. Even if most people weren't going to want to team up with the guy that had a massive target on his back, there still had to be someone. And there had to be a way to get through this. He couldn't rely on simply keeping the ten million the entire time. Maybe he could take advantage of the rush and steal some off the others?
So, offense and defense then. Maybe high mobility and high reach? No, then there wouldn't be a way to keep everyone off him if they were faster. Or maybe Izuku could handle close quarters?
"The round will last fifteen minutes!" Midnight-sensei said, breaking some of the tension. "As our students so helpfully pointed out, each team's points are determined by its members. The rider will wear a headband that has the point total on it. You will compete to take and maintain your points. Any headbands you grab must be worn around your neck or higher. Which naturally means that too many headbands will eventually start getting in the way. And keep in mind! Even if you have no points left, even if your formation is broken, it's not over until it's over!"
Just great. An endurance run as well. It was looking more and more like Izuku should just find a way to ditch the points.
"Even with quirks involved, it is still a Cavalry Battle!" Midnight-sensei continued, pulling the attention back to her. "Attacking another team with the intent to knock them over will get you a red card and disqualify you from the match!" Another thing against him.
"You have fifteen minutes to form your teams!"
"Fifteen-"
"Starting… now!"
Shit. Izuku needed a plan. He needed a teammate with reach in case things went wrong. He needed mobility to dodge, and he needed defense… Should he hold onto the points for as long as possible? Or let someone else take them to get the heat off his back? Either one would be a risky move.
No, teammates first.
Reach… Defense… Izuku crossed the field. He knew someone that could help with that. If he was right.
"Shiozaki-san," he greeted with a slight bow. "Would you like to team up with me?"
1-B's front runner turned to him in surprise. "Why are you asking me, and not your classmates?"
"I know them well enough to know that most of the ones that I would like to ask would say no," Izuku answered. "Either they want to fight against me themselves, are already on a team, or they consider it a bad strategy to join on when I have this target on me. Add to that, if I'm right about your quirk, you could very easily dominate this event if you wanted too."
"Looks like 1-A isn't all arrogant bastards," the boy behind her said. He had silver hair and some kind of… thing around his eyes. Tetsutetsu-san. Izuku didn't know what his quirk was, but he was definitely strong.
"No," Izuku smiled at him. "That would mostly be Bakugou. Maybe Todoroki-san, but the rest of us are pretty normal." He shrugged.
"What do you think my quirk is, Midoriya-kun?" Shiozaki-san asked before the boys could get much further.
"It's fairly easy to guess when it has such a visible mutation. Those vines you have. You can control them. I bet they could even grow through the cement they're using for a stage, given you passed the entrance exam."
She nodded slowly. "And the rest of your plan? Shouldn't you be focusing on defense? Or are you just trying to make sure I'm not opposing you on the field?"
"Mido-kun!" Uraraka-san said, barreling into the conversation. "Team up with me!"
Izuku grinned. "Uraraka-san! I would love to have you on my team!" He could probably avoid a lot of his opponents by taking to the sky periodically, although he would have to be careful not to overwork Uraraka-san. "And to answer your question, Shiozaki-san, I don't plan to rely on the assumption that I could keep our headband until the end. You would provide a way to get new headbands easily and a strong defense depending on what you're focusing on at the time. Presuming, of course, that you have significant dexterity with your vines."
Shiozaki-san looked at him closely, then shared a look with Tetsutetsu-san. There was a long pause as the two seemed to have a silent conversation, which gave Izuku the distinct impression he was messing up some preexisting plan. After a long pause, the silver haired boy nodded and stepped forward. "We'll work with you," he said, "but only if you take both of us. I can turn my skin into steel, so I can provide a strong defensive wall if we need one."
Izuku nodded. "Uraraka-san, how long do you think you could keep me in the air?"
Uraraka-san hesitated. "If it's just you, I could probably go the entire round."
