A/N: The UA Sports Festival is here! I should really come up with an upload schedule, if I want to get a healthy amount of sleep for the last few weeks of school...
Pictures accompany the chapter this time around! Check them out below.
Art -
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Two days later…
The class chattered about USJ, talking about All Might's power and the news stories that popped up about the incident the night before.
"Everyone! Morning homeroom is about to start! Stop talking and take your seats!"
"We're already in our seats."
"You're the only one who's not."
Hitomi sweatdropped as Iida went to his seat.
Mina's voice could be heard from across the room. "Hey, Tsuyu-chan, who do you think is gonna teach homeroom today?"
"Well, Aizawa-sensei's still resting from his injuries, so…"
The class turned to the sound of the door opening.
"Morning."
Aizawa walked into the room, his face and arms completely wrapped in bandages.
"Aizawa-sensei, you're back too soon!"
Hitomi watched in worry as her teacher staggered to the podium.
"My well-being doesn't matter. More importantly, the fight's not over."
The three boys in Hitomi's row spoke, all vocalizing the same thing.
The villains…?
"The UA Sports Festival is drawing near."
The entire class erupted into cheers over the regular school activity. Kirishima's were the loudest, before he was stopped by Kaminari.
Jirou was talking. "Is it okay to have a sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?"
Ojiro swiveled in his chair to look at Aizawa, asking a question of his own. "What if they attack us again or something…?"
Hitomi had those same doubts festering in her mind, recalling the fear she'd felt when faced with the villains.
Aizawa began to speak again as he readjusted his arms. "Apparently, they think of it as UA showing that our crisis management system is solid as a rock by holding the event. Security will also be strengthened to five times that of previous years.
Above all, our sports festival is a huge chance. It's not an event to be canceled because of a few villains."
Mineta interrupted him. "But that's a good reason, right? It's just a festival of sports."
"Mineta-kun, you've never seen the UA sports festival?" Hitomi heard Midoriya ask.
"Of course I have. That's not what I meant!"
It was then that Hitomi realized she herself had never actually seen them. Well, maybe when her family still lived in Japan, but that had to have been when she was really little. Even if she had watched it, it had been too long to remember anything. She had no idea what to expect.
Aizawa went on to explain the true extent UA's reputation held with the sports festival, Hitomi realizing what exactly kind of school she was in. The facilities in the school had already amazed her, but the sports festival becoming the equivalent of the Olympics?
This was completely out of her league.
Hitomi heard Yaoyorozu speak in front of her. "Of course, all the top heroes around the country will be watching. For scouting purposes!"
Oh god, I didn't even think about scouting…
The class moved on to discussions of scouting opportunities, as the sports festival was the best opportunity to get noticed by pros.
"One chance a year, a total of just three chances. No aspiring hero can afford to miss this event. If you understand that, then don't slack off on your preparations!"
"Yes, sir!"
It was lunchtime now, and everyone was already talking about the sports festival.
What Hitomi didn't expect was to see Uraraka so fired up.
"Everyone, I'm gonna do my best!"
Some of the class cheered for her, before Uraraka turned to another group of her classmates. "I'm gonna do my best!"
They cheered as well, although sounding more confused this time.
Seeing the normally bubbly brunette so worked up over the sports festival reaffirmed to Hitomi how important this event really was, as nearly all of Japan along with scouts would be watching.
I've gotta do my best too…!
The silver-eyed girl was packing up her things as she heard a commotion by the door.
"What's going on?!"
Slipping on her backpack, she walked a bit closer towards the door for a better look, only to find a large crowd of students outside.
Mineta was yelling at them, waving his fist. "We can't get out! What're you even here for, anyway?!"
"Scouting out the enemy, small fry."
Hitomi stepped back as Bakugou walked past her, the blonde shoving through Midoriya and Mineta on his way towards the door.
"We're the ones who made it out of the villain's attack. They probably wanna check us out before the sports festival.
There's no point in doing that."
Bakugou was talking to the crowd of students now. "Out of my way, extras."
Hitomi gaped at Bakugou's boldness, before she heard a deep voice from the crowd.
"I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant." A boy with messy purple hair was making his way towards the front of the crowd, Hitomi noticing the large bags under his eyes.
"Are all the students in the hero course like this?"
Bakugou made a strangled noise of discontent, before the boy continued.
"Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned. There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the hero course."
Hitomi's eyes widened as the boy continued, thinking back on her letter from UA.
She was lucky enough to make it into the top 20, and even luckier that despite the system error preventing her admission, Principal Nezu was kind enough to put her in the hero course anyway.
Other kids didn't get the kind of luck she had received.
She tuned back into the conversation by the door to hear the boy was still speaking.
"... Depending on the results of the sports festival, they'll consider our transfer into the hero course.
And it seems they may also transfer people out."
Iida, Uraraka, and Midoriya all recoiled.
"Scouting out the enemy? I, at least, came to say that even if you're in the hero course, if you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. I came with a declaration of war."
Hitomi, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida were all thinking the same thing:
This person's bold, too!
The tense atmosphere was interrupted by a shout as another boy with silver hair appeared by the door.
"I'm from Class B next door! I heard you fought villains, so I came to hear about it! Don't get so full of yourself!"
Another bold person!
The boy continued to shout, before Bakugou brushed past him to leave.
Kirishima tried to stop him, as it was Bakugou's aggression that caused the tension towards the class.
"Hold on, Bakugou! What are you gonna do about all this? It's your fault that everyone's hating on us!"
"It doesn't matter."
"Huh?!"
"It doesn't matter, as long as you rise to the top."
Bakugou then proceeded to leave, ignoring the silver-haired boy's shouts.
Hitomi decided it was time to leave as well, as she needed to make a few stops in town to prepare for the sports festival.
As she made her way out, time seemed to stop for a moment as she locked eyes with the purple-haired boy, his violet eyes boring into her as she walked past.
Two weeks later…
Hitomi was sitting by Kaminari in the 1-A Prep Room, turning over the extra hair tie on her wrist to try and calm her beating heart.
It's today…! Everyone's going to be watching!
"Midoriya."
Hitomi tensed, turning to see Todoroki had approached the curly-haired boy.
"Ah, what is it…?"
"Objectively speaking, I'm stronger than you."
"H-Huh? Um, of course…"
"All Might has his eye on you, doesn't he?"
Hitomi saw Midoriya's eyes widen, as if a secret he had been hiding had been found out.
Todoroki continued speaking. "I'm not going to pry into that, but…
I will beat you."
…
Hitomi walked towards the stadium entrance with the rest of her class, hearing Present Mic's loud voice outside.
She could already hear the cheers of a loud crowd in the stands.
This is bigger than anything I could've imagined.
It was just as Bakugou had said.
I need to aim for the top!
A/N: The first round of the sports festival begins next chapter! How will Hitomi do~?