Telling Todoroki-san about All For One, One For All, and the roles those two Quirks had played in shaping the world as they knew it had been… Well, Izuku had honestly expected more of an actual reaction from Todoroki-san.

"So, this power first belonged to your father, and then he passed it on to his brother," Todoroki-san said, and there was a toneless quality to his voice that Izuku didn't know quite what to think of. "And then it was eventually passed down to All Might," he continued, turning to look over at Uncle Toshi.

"That's right," Uncle Toshi said, looking about as curious about how Todoroki-san had been reacting as Izuku had found himself feeling ever since they'd got home. "There were seven wielders of One For All before I came along. Still, even though your father has put you forward as a candidate to be the ninth wielder of One For All, in the end it's still your choice."

Todoroki-san's face stayed closed and unreadable for the most part, but there was at least a spark of interest in his eyes; Izuku didn't quite know what to make of someone so determinedly unreadable, but he thought that it might at least be something of an improvement. Still, in the end Todoroki-san left without giving any kind of definitive answer as to whether or not he was going to become the Ninth Wielder, and Izuku could only wonder what was going on with his stoic classmate. And why he could only see the fire half of his Quirk as rightfully belonging to his father.

Sure, his own Quirk was an offshoot of Dad's own All For One, but the mechanics and specifics of the Quirk were entirely his; Izuku was sure that it was just the same for Bambaa-chan, since he hadn't heard of anyone with such an advanced Cat Quirk before, just like he hadn't heard of someone being rendered mute by their own Quirk.

~MHA~

The next couple of days, when he and Bambaa-chan went back to U.A. for their respective classes, Izuku couldn't help but notice the way that all of the other students were looking at him and the rest of his classmates with more than a little interest. He'd caught some of them talking about how cool it was that class 1-A had actually had the chance to meet Sensei – hearing things like that always made him wonder how they'd react if they knew Dad was Sensei, really – and others were talking about the Sports Festival that was coming up.

"Hey, partner!"

"Hi, Neito-kun," he sighed, as the other boy practically pounced on him, arms winding around his neck; really, he acted more like a cat than Bambaa-chan, and his Quirk was Copy.

The sound of amused purring drew his attention to Bambaa-chan, who was walking with Shinsou-san. /He's coming on a bit strong now, isn't he?/

"Bambaa-chan," he said, rolling his eyes as his adopted sister leaned in, still purring amusedly.

"Hey, sis," Monoma said, grinning as all four of them fell into step with one another.

"You really are a barnacle, aren't you?" Shinsou-san drawled, an annoyed look on his sleepy-eyed face; he really did look a lot like Aizawa-sensei.

"A barnacle-?!" Monoma demanded, then just a second later his face went slack, his eyes went blank, and Izuku found himself wondering what Shinsou-san's Quirk actually was.

"Walk away," Shinsou-san said, and to Izuku's surprise Monoma did just as Shinsou-san had told him to; still, that did narrow down the possibilities of what Shinsou-san's Quirk could actually do.

"You really didn't have to go to all that trouble, Shinsou-san," he said, not wanting to make a bad first impression on someone Bambaa-chan seemed to be making friends with.

"Your sister told me he was bothering you," Shinsou-san said, a small smile curving his mouth. "And you really are too nice to tell him to go away."

He laughed softly, feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing. "Well, thank you, I guess."

/See, I told you he wouldn't be mad at you for using your Quirk,/ Bambaa-chan said, purring louder.

"Yeah, but you also warned me that he was going to want to dissect my Quirk after I showed it to him," Shinsou-san said, though the smile on his face suggested that he was actually teasing Bambaa-chan.

/I said he'd want to interview you, you reckless exaggerator,/ Bambaa-chan said, purring softly to show the amusement she'd never been able to show on her face. /I also said that, if you were really serious about the Sports Festival, you should've started working out. You're kind of a twig./

"We have a gym you could use, back home," he suggested, when Shinsou-san turned away, rubbing his arms a bit self-consciously; he really didn't seem to have much muscle-tone, not that the U.A. uniforms would have actually showcased it if he did, but still.

~MHA~

In the end, Hitoshi-kun did end up taking Izuku's offer to use the gym at home, just like Katsuki-kun had for pretty much all the time he and Izuku had been friends. The one that actually surprised her when he came was Todoroki-san, since he hadn't seemed particularly friendly to any of them while they were in school together. Still, considering the way he'd been offered – or offered up, to hear him say it – as the ninth holder of One For All, she supposed that that kind of thing made at least some sense.

It was a bit disconcerting, how cold he was even when people were honestly trying to help him, but Bombalurina had the feeling that he wouldn't take well to someone interfering in what he'd probably consider his private business; no one here really did, in her experience. So, she just resolved to keep an eye on him, and to bring up any particularly concerning issues with Papa; after all, if Todoroki-san did end up becoming the ninth link in the chain that the holders of One For All had forged, Papa was going to want him to be as mentally healthy as possible. Papa seemed to have the same idea, if the way he seemed to be checking on their activities in the gym more often than usual was any indication.

Two weeks seemed to pass a lot faster than usual, but that was probably just because they were all working so hard, and soon enough they could see the signs of the Festival being set up.

/See you guys on the field,/ she said, as she, Hitoshi-kun, and the rest of their class split off from 1-A and 1-B.

"Yeah," Izuku said, smiling at her as the pair of them clasped hands briefly for luck.

Walking with Hitoshi-kun as class 1-C all gathered in their waiting room, Bombalurina adjusted her shorts for what felt like the fifth time that day. If there was one thing she didn't like about the Sports Festival, it was the fact that all of them had to wear their gym uniforms; she'd already gotten special dispensation to wear shorts instead of pants, so there was at least less fabric to rub up against her fur while she was moving, but it was still fairly annoying to have to deal with.

"Midoriya-chan!" a cheerful voice drew her attention to Midnight-sensei as she made her way into class 1-C's waiting room. "The paperwork your father sent in about your Quirk went through."

/That's good to hear,/ she said, as Midnight-sensei came over to her, stopping behind her to gently push a pair of sound dampeners into her ears. /Thank you, Midnight-sensei./

"Of course," Midnight-sensei said, smiling brightly at her. "You're meant to be feeling the pain of a good workout, not a bad headache," she continued, reaching down to scratch behind her ears.

Leaning back in her chair, purring as Midnight-sensei rubbed her ears a few, last times, Bombalurina sighed happily as she settled back into her seat.

~MHA~

When they all started making their way across the field and up to the podium where the announcer – whoever they were going to end up being, this year – Izuku looked back towards the private boxes with a wide, cheerful smile, waving as hard as he could for a long moment. Mom and Dad would be watching him and Bambaa-chan from one of them, and he could still almost feel the hugs that both of his parents had wrapped him and Bambaa-chan in, before their two groups had gone their separate ways.

Looking up as he heard Present Mic announcing their approach, Izuku found his eye almost involuntarily drawn to the waving arm and smugly grinning face of Neito Monoma.

"Hey, partner! Nice to see you again!"

Izuku sighed. "Hi, Neito-kun."

"Aw, I told you you could call me Neito-kun, and here you remembered," Monoma said, his tone almost making Izuku wish he'd been able to forget without Monoma pouting at him in that way he'd done so many times.

Izuku sighed again.

/Izu-chan, do you want me to set Hitoshi-kun on him again?/

Stifling laughter that would have been entirely inappropriate for the situation they were all in at the moment, Izuku shook his head and turned to wave to Bambaa-chan and Shinsou-kun. Both of them waved back, though the small smile on Shinsou-kun's face seemed a bit more amused rather than just welcoming. He wondered what Bambaa-chan was talking to him about, then realized that he probably already knew.

When all of U.A.'s first year classes had made it up to the podium, Izuku found himself more than a little surprised to find Midnight-sensei standing before all of them.

/Ugh, I'll never understand how someone can actually enjoy wearing so many layers of fabric, and all of them so tight,/ Bambaa-chan groused, shuddering, presumably as soon as she'd caught sight of Midnight-sensei's outfit.

He wished for a moment that he could have spoken to her without it being rude, but she was probably just thinking out loud; there were times when she did that, and Izuku thought it might have been because she couldn't do anything like that before Dad had adopted her after the Rosaru Massacre. Izuku couldn't really imagine how lonely it must have been, only being able to communicate with other people through the notepad that she'd still been relying on when the pair of them had first met. Once she'd went through the relevant medical examination, something to make sure that the new Quirk Dad had intended to give her wouldn't end up making her go catatonic or anything like that, Bambaa-chan had seemed a lot happier.

When Midnight-sensei called Kacchan up to the microphone on the stage, Izuku laughed softly; Kacchan was just the kind to push himself as hard as he could, taking the number one spot was pretty much what he expected from his first friend.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know: no matter how many Quirks you have stored up, I'm still going to leave you in the dust, nerd!" Kacchan said, grinning at him, then turning his attention to Bambaa-chan. "The same goes for you, sis; I've seen your sprint speed, and it isn't that fast!"

Out of the corner of his left eye, he could see Bambaa-chan flicking her tail in either dismissal or annoyance; it wasn't like anyone could tell from the look on her face.

The first part of the Festival did turn out to be a combination obstacle course and a race, so Izuku could understand why Kacchan had specifically called out Bambaa-chan about her sprinting speed. As they all began making their way to the starting gate – or the field just outside of it, since they were all going to be running through the thing – Izuku found himself wondering why the gate itself was so tall and narrow. He and Dad had mostly been interested in the Third Years' competition, since they had more experience with their Quirks than any of the other classes.

When the veritable stampede of students reached the gate, Izuku had the feeling he understood why: with so many people and their Quirks crammed into such a tight space, it was clearly meant to be just as much of a struggle as the rest of the race.

~MHA~

Before she could get too caught up in the mass charge into the tall, narrow gateway that would lead them all out of the stadium and onto the track, Bombalurina leaped up onto the shoulders of the crowd as they stampeded into the narrow tunnel. Hopping lightly across the shoulders of her fellow students, she turned her ears forward as she caught sight of the bright lights at the end of the tunnel. Flicking her right ear back as she heard the sound of someone else bounding their way across the path that had been created by the shoulders of so many people packed together so tightly as she continued on her way to the opening of the gateway to the outside of the stadium.

Turning slightly, so she would be able to see the person running next to her without interrupting her momentum, Bombalurina purred amusedly when she saw Izuku – using the Quirk he'd cloned from her when he'd eaten one of her whiskers – following a nearly parallel path to her own across the shoulders of their schoolmates. His shoes – without the strap that buckled around the upper part of her foot, and made for someone who walked with both their toes and heels on the ground – had long since fallen off, probably when he first jumped, though maybe they'd at least held on until he'd started running.

Either way, he wasn't going to be happy when he finally made it back on solid ground.

Speaking of solid ground, Bombalurina barely had time to finish even half of that thought, before the sensation of cold wind blowing almost right in her face caused her whiskers to stiffen, standing straight out from her face. She was far enough off the ground not to get frozen by the ice she could clearly hear forming under the influence of Todoroki-san's Quirk – the half of it he didn't have a problem with, at least – but when she leaped back down to the ground, Bombalurina winced, letting out an involuntary "nya!" as the pads of her hands slammed down on the ice coating the ground.

Dashing all-out, down in the four-legged running stance that she hadn't shown to anyone but Papa before the Festival, Bombalurina felt a slight tug on her tail, even as her claws bit into the ice layered on the ground.

/Hitoshi-kun, what are you doing back there?/ she asked, seeing Hitoshi with both hands wrapped around the tip of her tail.

Over the wind rushing in her ears, filtered as it was by the dampeners she was wearing, Bombalurina caught Hitoshi-kun saying something about his stamina. It certainly wasn't an untoward sentiment, since Hitoshi-kun was more than a bit of a twig and had the expected amount of stamina one would expect from someone so scrawny. When she'd suggested that he come to the gym with her, Izuku, and Katsuki, she'd seen it first-hand. Still, even friendship had its limits.

/All right, but if you don't let go once we're off the ice, we're going to have problems./

Turning back to the track as she pulled Hitoshi-kun along the iced-over ground, Bombalurina found that she was already very close to the end of it.

"What the hell, sis?!"

/Aw, Katsu-kun, are you mad that I didn't show you all my tricks in the gym?/ she retorted, purring loudly even as she lashed her tail to let Hitoshi-kun know that it was time for him to let go.

Katsuki's only response was a semi-articulate roar, and the sound of more powerful explosions from his hands; Bombalurina purred more loudly as she heard Katsuki swearing. The sound of a harsh, sudden impact, combined with the sudden rush of enough wind to flatten her whiskers against her cheeks was the first warning she got that something more than her schoolmates was coming. Slowing down, both so that she could stand up and so that she'd be able to open her eyes all the way without the wind making her close them right back up.

/Seriously?!/ she demanded, a surprised, involuntary "nya!" slipping out, as Bombalurina looked up at the veritable army of giant robots closing in on her and her schoolmates.

Huffing a sigh as she dropped back to all-fours again, Bombalurina narrowed her eyes against the wind and dashed between a pair of robots that had started closing in on the leaders of the pack; the scent of fresh, cold air hitting her nose brought her attention to Todoroki-san, just as he froze an attacking robot nearly solid, running between its legs once he'd finished.

Turning back to the track, Bombalurina blinked the wind out of her eyes and kept running. The sight of what looked like a very long drop in front of her nearly drew Bombalurina up short, but when she caught sight of the ropes, strung tightly between what looked like the kind of tall, flat-topped stone pillars that one could more easily find in places like Monument Valley. She'd have liked to stop and look, since the landscape seemed like just the kind of place that she'd have enjoyed being, but for the moment she was on a time-limit.

It was kind of sad, but such was life when you were in a race; they'd probably have pictures of the place, though, so that was something, at least.

Extending her claws for extra grip, and flicking out her tail for balance, Bombalurina ran as fast as she could across the taught-stretched ropes that made up this part of the course. The smell of cold air washing across her nose let her know that Todoroki-san was close behind, and when she flicked her gaze over to him she saw that he was riding an ice path across the ropes. That's something, she mused, turning her attention back to her own path.

The sight of a huge sign, right in front of the next obstacle they were set to confront – the one that she and Todoroki-san were going to be the first ones through – she nearly stopped short as she read the words printed in huge, bold, golden-yellow typeface: Danger: Mines. Sighing, Bombalurina shook her head, crouching and leaping to a nearby patch of clear ground. Being forced to drop out of her top speed was a bit disconcerting, but she could take at least some solace in the fact that Todoroki-san had been slowed down just that much more.

Bounding her way between open spaces of ground, the sound of what seemed to a constant, sustained roaring drew her attention to the forms fighting in the sky. Looks like Izu-chan and Katsu-kun are catching up, she mused, eyeing the pair of them. They both seemed more focused on the other, at least for the moment, but she'd keep an ear out since that could change entirely too easily. Bounding from one open patch of ground to the next, sometimes having to twist her body in midair or land on less than all four limbs, Bombalurina eventually managed to make it nearly to the end of the minefield.

Seriously, a minefield in the middle of an obstacle course; the things some people do for entertainment, Bombalurina mused, purring in an annoyed sort of good-humor. The sound of explosions coming up swiftly from behind her, just as she was still mid-leap, caught her by surprise even in spite of the way she'd promised herself to keep an ear out for anything that might be happening above her.

"You're not getting ahead of me, sis!"

Rising up onto her feet as Katsuki bore down on her like a missile – a resemblance made all the more pronounced by the explosions coming from his palms – Bombalurina threw her tail out behind her for balance, leaned back just enough that Katsuki's palm wouldn't hit her in the face, and then lunged forward to bite down on his wrist before he could reorient himself for another attack.

Once he'd let go, Bombalurina bounded quickly over the last of the mines in her way, dropped back down to all-fours again, then ran flat out for the finish line; at least she hoped it was the finish line, since her stamina was beginning to flag after running at her top speed for so long. The sight of sight of someone running next to her, and the complete lack of cold air that would have let her know if Todoroki-san was the one closing with her, drew Bombalurina's attention to Izuku.

Izuku, who was running on all-fours right beside her; Izuku, who'd clearly been using the Quirk he'd copied from her more than the few times that she'd seen him do so during the race they were in if he was that comfortable moving around on four legs.

As the pair of them drew neck-in-neck for what Bombalurina could only hope was the final leg of the race, Izuku slammed into her right shoulder. Righting herself as quickly as she could, Bombalurina slammed right back into him as the pair of them fought for the lead. The door back into the stadium loomed before them, bringing her at least some relief, given the thought that at least this part of the Festival was going to be over soon. As she and Izuku slammed determinedly into each other, both aiming to knock the other over before the other could do the same to them, the sounds of explosions and rapid freezing from behind her let Bombalurina know that Todoroki-san and Katsuki were steadily closing in, as well.

As she and Izuku blasted into the tunnel, both of them running at top speed, shoving and slamming into each other to try and knock the other over or at least out of the way, Bombalurina began to hear the sounds of harsh panting coming from beside her; it seemed that both of them were coming to the end of their stamina at this point. As she and Izuku blew into the stadium once more, Bombalurina reached out, extending the claws of her right hand as the pair of them crossed the finish line.

If nothing else, it would give her a few centimeters of clearance.

Breathing as deeply as she could, as she rose back to her feet again, Bombalurina looked over at Izuku as he huffed and puffed, taking a new pair of shoes out of his pockets before he fell into step with her.

"That was quick thinking with your claws, Bambaa-chan," he said, rubbing the back of his head and looking more than a little sheepish. "I guess I still need to get used to your Quirk."

/It looks like it, Izu-chan,/ she said, purring to put her adopted brother at ease as they turned to watch the rest of their schoolmates charge into the stadium with them.

Todoroki-san was next, followed quickly by Katsuki, who rocketed himself to a stop, turning to stomp over to her with a grin that was only barely trying not to be bloodthirsty.

"So, you still had a few tricks up your sleeve, eh sis?" he growled, grinning as he yanked her backwards, grinding his knuckles into her skull as she flailed, purring.