Ren had opted for sitting out the recreational games in order to mentally prepare for the last stage the Sports Festival, but with the moment of truth upon him, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a at least bit nervous.

"This tournament is shaping up to be a riveting rollercoaster." Present Mic's commentary echoed through the stadium. "We had a very close first match, and a not-so-close second match; let's see what this third match holds in store for us."

Lots had been drawn to determine the pairings for the first round of the tournament:

Izuku Midoriya vs. Hitoshi Shinso

Shoto Todoroki vs. Hanta Sero

Ren Amamiya vs. Mina Ashido

Tenya Ida vs. Mei Hatsume

Haru Okumura vs. Denki Kaminari

Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Momo Yaoyorozu

Katsuki Bakugo vs. Ochaco Uraraka

Eijiro Kirishima vs. Kyoka Jiro

Izuku had just narrowly won his fight against Shinso, while Todoroki easily defeated Sero in a matter of seconds; it was now Ren's turn, and expectations were high. He felt the weight of the viewership on his shoulders as he climbed up to the concrete platform to begin his final trial. He was confident in his ability for combat, but this would be his first time fighting with so many eyes on him.

Ren wiped the sweat off his brow as he experienced a slight sensory overload. The beaming stadium lights, the heat of the midday sun, the thunderous roaring of the audience; it was hard to focus on the situation at hand. It also didn't help that his mind still lingered on the events that transpired earlier in the waiting room. Opening up to his classmates lifted a heavy load off his chest, but it also brought up many unpleasant memories he had tried his hardest to forget. Even so, he reassured himself he did it for a reason–he was done running and hiding.

It was indubitably daunting, but also exhilarating in equal measure. Ever since meeting Arsène he had developed a penchant for showmanship, and after all, what was he here for if not showing-off?

"In this corner. Sliding onto the ring, It's the horned queen of the hero course–Mina Ashido! On the opposite corner, he dominated the cavalry battle and he's hungry for more–it's the swiss army man, the jack of all trades–Ren Amamiya, also from the hero course!"

The two contestants came to stand face-to-face.

"Nice to see you, Amamiya. Too bad I'll have to take you down in the first round." She said with a taunting smile. "I'm not going easy on you just because we're friends."

He returned the smile, accepting the challenge. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

The referee gave the signal to start the match, and without skipping a beat, Mina dashed forward to deliver a roundhouse kick Ren only barely managed to dodge. She immediately followed up with another he was forced to block with his forearm. He saw she wasn't lying when she said she wouldn't pull any punches.

"Nice moves." He said.

"I'm just warming up."

They continued trading blows; engaged in an aggressive back-and-forth that to the outsider eye might have resembled a dance battle.

Ren was starting to get dizzy. The gliding in Ashido's feet allowed her to say constantly in motion; orbiting around him and hindering his accuracy. She detected the vacillation in her opponent and saw an opening; with a wave of her arm, she splashed acid all over his clothes. Holes and tears materialised where the corrosive substance made contact with the fabric, leaving Ren's gym uniform top looking like an old rag.

"Hey! That's my only shirt!" Ren said indignant. "So you wanna fight dirty, huh? Well, two can play at that game."

With one tug, he tore off what was left of his shirt and tossed aside before cracking his knuckles. "Slime!"

Ren invoked the name of the amorphous ooze monster. Its grotesque appearance and guttural growls were met with a repulsed reaction from the audience, then, the creature started moving in Ashido's direction.

She grimaced. "Ew, gross!"

Distracted by disgust, she instinctively flung a handful of acid at the Persona. However, it was unfazed by the attack and did not cease the advance towards her; Mina kept bombarding it with acid to fend it off, but her efforts were futile. It was only after her skin started irritating from overusing her Quirk that she noticed–the slime monster had grown considerably in size. It had absorbed the acid in each one of her attacks and consolidated it into itself. Before she knew it, the Slime had closed the distance between them, and in one single bite, she disappeared into its mouth.

The spectators erupted in a collective gasp.

"Did that thing just eat her?!"

"I-Is she dead?"

"That has to be against the rules."

Slime slithered across the battlefield, leaving a viscous trail in its path; once it reached the edge, it made a retching motion and proceeded to spit outside the ring a ball of mucus containing the pink girl.

"Ashido has stepped out of bounds, Amamiya advances to the second round!" Midnight called from the sidelines.

"Yuck! I'm covered in goo!"

"Not very pleasant, is it?"

Still topless, Ren went over help her up.

"My uniform got all dirty!"

"At least you can put yours in the washer."

For a moment, they shared a stare loaded with tension… before bursting into laughter, which they carried on all the way to the changing room.

The fortunate finding of a pile of spare uniforms in the changing room saved Ren from having to go the rest of the tournament shirtless. He figured that with the destructive nature of some Quirks, it was not all that uncommon for U.A. students to require an unforeseen change of uniform. With a fresh, untorn shirt, he returned to the stands with the rest of class 1-A.

"There you are, Ren. That was an amazing fight." Izuku greeted him. "Where is Ashido, by the way?"

"She had to take a shower after that…" He replied as he took a sit next to him. "And thanks; yours was quite thrilling too. How did you manage to break out of Shinso's brainwash?"

"Oh, well… I'm not really sure. I guess it must have been the adrenaline or something." Izuku awkwardly tried to laugh the question off.

Ren wasn't entirely convinced by the non-committal answer. It was evident that Izuku's Quirk was rather peculiar, and the boy got slightly on edge whenever someone inquired about it. The way he broke a bone every time he tried to use it; it was like his power and his body were simply incompatible. Ren began to wonder–could there be more to his friend's Quirk than met the eye? Something that made him resistant to the brainwashing… something like his own Personas.

He knew asking directly would only net him more evasive answers, so he decided to drop the subject for now. "Anyway, what did I miss?"

"Ida fought against Hatsume, from the support course. It was a very, uh… interesting match; Ida won in the end. Kaminari is up next."

"Here she comes; the only student from the Business course to make it into the final stage of the festival–it's Haru Okumura! Today she will be facing the boy with the electric personality–the Hero course's very own Denki Kaminari!" The announcer presented the contestants.

"That's your friend, isn't she?" Izuku asked. "She did very well in the Cavalry Battle. Do you think she can beat Kaminari?"

Ren stopped to consider the question, for the answer was not as clear as would've liked. Haru's brilliance was beyond question; her inventions had given them the upper hand in the Cavalry Battle, but she was inexperienced in the ways of combat, and her Quirk didn't have much potential for offence. By contrast, Kaminari's Quirk was nothing to scoff at; what the boy lacked in smarts he made up in raw power. And in a one-on-one duel he could use his Indiscriminate Shock without holding back. An unprepared opponent wouldn't stand a chance against him, nevertheless, Kaminari always did have a particular weakness…

"Hello there, pretty lady. The name's Kaminari, Denki Kaminari. Pleasure to meet you." He said with a wink, attempting to emulate someone more charming than himself.

"Hi~" Haru said. "You're a Hero student, aren't you? I bet you must be very strong."

"Well, I don't want to brag or anything, but I basically defeated an entire army of villains at the USJ."

"Wow, you are so cool! I could never fight a Hero like you. I'm just a girl with a few support items…" She said with a pout, batting her eyelashes at him.

"You're here to show off your little gadgets like that other girl, right? Don't' worry. How about I help you out with that and you let me take you out on a date as thanks?"

"Would you really?"

"Anything for you."

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" She clapped enthusiastically. "In that case, here. Take these."

Haru pulled out one of her inventions. She handed him a pair of metal rods, and he took one in each hand. A cable connected them to a small box.

"That looks pretty neat, what is it?"

"This little thing? Oh, it's just a prototype for an electrochemical battery cell."

"Hmm, that sounds smart. I prefer brains over beauty in a girl, you know? I'm the sensitive type. Not that you aren't beautiful! I was just saying–hey, what's that button for?"

The sweet smile in Haru's face twisted a little bit. She ignored the question and pressed the button on the gadget. An initial shock travelled through the cables and jumpstarted Kaminari's Electrification. Lightning engulfed him and his body tensed; a reverse redox reaction occurring within the cell commenced draining the electricity off his body. Unable to move, he remained static, charging the battery until his Quirk gave out. The lightning dispersed, and a short-circuited Kaminari was left on the ground.

"By the way, I'm afraid I'll have to decline your invitation." Haru said coldly; no pep left in her voice whatsoever. She retrieved her invention and kneeled to speak into Kaminari's ear. "Never forget–I'm not here to show off. I'm here to win."

She started walking away without even waiting for the referee.

"Kaminari is out of action. The winner of this match is Okumura!"

Back at the stands, Izuku was nonplussed. "Whoa… she's kinda scary."

Ren only nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she really is…"

He realised underestimating Haru Okumura is a fatal mistake.

"Our next challenger comes from the Hero course, and she's here to rock your socks off–it's Kyoka Jiro! Against her we have another Hero in the making. He's a manly man and his skin is as hard as his head; It's Tetsutetsu Tets–Oops–I mean, it's Eijiro Kirishima!"

"I'm sorry, Jiro. Hurting a girl goes against the code of chivalry, but I have to win this." Kirishima said.

"Get over yourself and punch me, you wuss!" Jiro replied.

"I'm not gonna hit you."

He approached Jiro pulled her into a bear hug and started carrying her towards the outside of the arena.

"What are you doing?! Put me down!"

"Trust me, I don't like this any more than you."

She struggled in Kirishima's grasp, but it was impossible to escape from it. With her arms bound, she used her Earphone Jacks to stab her opponent's ears and send the frequency of her heartbeat directly into his eardrums. The attack made him let go of Jiro, who took the opportunity to counterattack. A sweep of her leg knocked him off his feet; she aimed to finish him up with a jab to the face, but Kirishima managed to activate Hardening just at the last second. Her fist connected with the rock-hard skin and she failed to hold back a painful yowl; the tables turned again. Wanting to avoid hitting her, Kirishima lifted Jiro with a fireman carry, and this time he succeeded in bringing her over the edge of the ring.

"Jiro is out. Kirishima moves on to the next round!"

"Jiro got really unlucky." Ren said, observing the fight from the stands. "She had a good strategy, but It was an unfavourable matchup."

"This sucks. I was hoping at least one girl from our class would make it to the next round. Ochaco came close but Bakugo was ruthless." Toru commented.

"Speaking of, they've been gone for a while and Izuku's match is next. I'll go check on them."

Ren excused himself and slipped back to the waiting room. He announced his arrival with a swift knock on the door as he walked in.

"I figured I'd find you here." He said to greet Izuku and Uraraka, the only ones currently present in the room.

"I was actually about to leave. They just called my name for the next round." Izuku said.

"Good luck, Deku. I'll be rooting for you!"

Izuku thanked them before taking his leave, and then Ren took the seat next to Uraraka.

"I saw your fight against Bakugo; you did really well. By the way you moved and dodged through the explosions I can tell you've been training hard. If you could've gotten just a bit closer he would've been toast."

"Thanks. I still have a long way to go, though. But I'll keep training even more. You'll see; next year I'll totally make it to the finals, I'll even beat you!"

Ren chuckled. "It'd be an honour to face you then."

They fell back into a comfortable silence. Although he didn't really spend that much time with Uraraka, her unassuming kindness always made him feel at ease with her. They enjoyed the stillness for a couple of minutes.

"Amamiya, can I ask you something?" Uraraka broke the silence.

"Sure" He said. "And please, call me Ren."

"Right, Ren…" She hesitated for a moment before asking. "Do you still blame yourself for what happened before you became Joker?"

He was taken aback by the question. He didn't know exactly how to put his feelings into words; it took him so long to answer that Uraraka was starting to fear she may have offended him, but Ren finally sighed and answered honestly. "I don't know. I thought I didn't anymore, but I guess a part of me could never really let go."

Ochaco gave room for Ren to continue, but he had nothing else to say. On the other hand, she looked like she wanted to say something, but she needed to collect her thoughts first.

"My parents' business isn't doing so well." She said. "They have a construction company; I wanted to help them using my Quirk, but they said a child like me shouldn't have to worry about such things. I always felt so useless… That's why I came to U.A.; to become a pro Hero and make a lot of money so that my parents could have an easier life. But my short time here has really changed my outlook on things. I've learned so much, especially form Deku–he inspired me to fight for myself and to keep looking ahead. That's why I won't let this defeat stop me; I will become a Hero to help my parents and everyone I can!"

By the end of her speech she realised she was now standing and pumping her fists with determination; she blushed with a hint of embarrassment.

"Sorry, I don't even know if I'm making any sense. I just… I know that my problems can never compare to what you've been through, but I still want to remind you that you don't have to carry this burden alone anymore. Your friends are here for you, Ren."

Ren was moved by her words. Unsure of how to respond, he simply said

"Thank you." and hoped that was enough to convey just how much his friends' support meant to him.

Uraraka smiled broadly, letting him know she received the message. "Come on. Let's go cheer for Deku."