When their lunch break had ended, Izuku still found Todoroki-san following along beside him as he made his way back to the arena, knowing that all of them would be called back for the competition for the people who hadn't made it into the final round of the Sports Festival, and then the final round itself, and not .

"Todoroki, are you sure you're okay?" he asked, knowing that Dad had already asked just the same kind of question, but also remembering that Todoroki-san hadn't actually given Dad any kind of definitive answer.

He knew that Dad had noticed, too, and was probably looking into some way that he'd be able to help Todoroki-san even now; Dad had always liked to fix people, and Izuku tried as best as he could to follow in his footsteps with that.

"I'm fine, Midoriya. It's just," Todoroki-san paused for a lingering moment. "Your family is so different from mine."

That's not a bad thing, is it? Izuku almost wanted to ask, but since he didn't know how Todoroki-san would react to hearing that, he didn't say anything; nothing like that, anyway. "Well, if you do decide to take on One For All, me and Bambaa-chan would be able to call you Shoto-nii," he said.

~MHA~

Maybe I shouldn't have left so quickly, was all Shoto could remember thinking, even as he moved hurriedly through the halls of U.A.'s Sports Festival arena. Yes, he knew that Midoriya had just wanted to comfort him – really, that seemed to be what Midoriya's entire family was trying to do, with Midoriya and his father simply being the most prominent examples – but finding himself surrounded by the kindness and caring of the Midoriya family… No, if he was going to keep to his resolve, if he was truly going to refuse the Quirk that Endeavor wanted him to take up, he was going to have to stay away from Midoriya and his family.

Both Midoriyas, it seemed.

"I think I would have liked that," he muttered, into the lonely silence of the empty hallway he now stood in.

~MHA~

Thinking back on the conversation that he and Endeavor had had, while the competitors had been eating lunch and preparing themselves physically and mentally for the next round of the Sports Festival – at least the ones who'd be competing, he mused, remembering that Midoriya-chan had decided not to go through with the final round – Toshinori found himself more than a little unnerved about the topic their conversation had ended on. Sure, he hadn't actually said anything, but the fact that Endeavor had been almost eager to bring up the subject…

The fact that One For All could be transferred involuntarily was for the most part immaterial, in light of the fact that Endeavor had asked about it in the first place; there weren't many good reasons for someone to ask after that kind of information, and nearly none of them were innocent.

Endeavor hadn't been remotely pleased about essentially being blown off when he'd been attempting his interrogation, but Toshinori found that he couldn't bring himself to feel anything more than a mild sort of annoyance when he thought back on it. He still needed to talk to Hisashi about everything that Endeavor had said and done, but he'd have still needed to do that kind of thing even if their conversation had been more innocuous. After all, while it could be done in the heat of the moment or under duress, it'd always been best to handle the passing of One For All as smoothly and calmly as possible.

Really, he didn't know how anyone who hadn't been prepared beforehand would even handle the Quirk…

~MHA~

Staring in the direction that Todoroki-san had gone when he left, so abruptly after Izuku had tried to lighten the tension he'd clearly been under, Izuku couldn't help but wonder if he'd said something wrong after all. The sound of footsteps coming up from behind him and a bit off to his left drew his attention just as he'd started working himself up to go after Todoroki-san so that he could clear up whatever misunderstanding had come up between them.

"Shinsou-kun," he said, turning to see Bambaa-chan's friend as the other boy came up to him.

"So, it looks like we're going to be facing off next," Shinsou-kun said, and there was an unreadable sort of expression on his face.

Izuku was starting to wonder if he should ask Dad for a mind-reading Quirk, so he could actually manage to help people like Shinsou-kun and Todoroki-san; still, even though Dad had been working to remove the sigma against people with Quirks like that from the law, he'd often said himself that even he couldn't change human nature. A lot of people would be nervous around him, maybe even scared, if they knew Dad had given him a Quirk like that.

Or really, if they found out that Dad could take Quirks from anyone, and not just from him; everyone would probably be scared of Dad, if that ever happened.

"Yeah, it looks like we are," he said, drawing himself up and offering both his right hand and a wide, cheerful smile, just the way Uncle Toshi did when he wanted to reassure someone. "Let's both do our best, all right?"

"Right," Shinsou-kun said, a slight smile appearing slowly on his face, too.

The pair of them went their separate ways after that, each headed to the exit that would take them to their individual positions in the ring they were going to be fighting in when the tournament portion – the final portion – of the Sports Festival, and as Izuku continued on his way down the hallway to the main arena, the sounds of more people approaching drew his attention. Smiling, since he recognized the tread of someone tall wearing hard-soled dress shoes, Izuku turned around with a big, wide grin on his face.

"Hi, Dad! Uncle Toshi! It's great to see you guys again!" he called, then leaped forward to envelop Dad in a full-body hug, wrapping both arms and legs around Dad's waist, even as Dad swung him around, laughing.

"You did very well in the preliminary rounds, Izuku," Dad said, wrapping Izuku up in his arms so the both of them could cuddle closer; over Dad's right shoulder he could see Uncle Toshi snapping a picture, probably of him and Dad when they'd had their noses together.

Uncle Toshi and Granny Nana were always doing funny things like that.

After Dad had put him down, and Uncle Toshi had offered his own congratulations and well-wishes for the next part of the Sports Festival, Izuku made his way back out of the hallway and down to the ring. Shinsou-kun was making his own way up the path that would take him up onto the same ring that Izuku himself was making his way up to.

~MHA~

Looking over at Izuku as the boy from Class 1-A – the one person in the Hero Course who Hitoshi could truly, honestly call a friend – waved to him with a cheerful smile on his face, Hitoshi waved back and smiled as best as he could. Izuku Midoriya; of all the people I could have ended up facing in the first round of this tournament, it had to be you, he mused, continuing to smile as best he could, even as he found himself feeling more and more uncertain about just what it was that he was going to have to do if he wanted a decisive win in this match.

He'd said himself that if someone knew what they wanted their future to hold, then they couldn't worry about what other people thought of them, but this… So many times before, from so many people that he'd long since stopped counting, he'd heard that his Quirk would be perfect for a Villain; that it was criminal, dangerous, and what did that kind of Quirk say about him, then. Hitoshi had heard it all, and had long since taught himself to ignore it.

And yet, standing before one of the only true friends he'd ever made, Hitoshi found himself remembering all of that all over again; because what else would a Villain do but betray the person they'd gotten close to? Someone who'd helped him, who'd been nothing but kind to him; someone who'd even gone so far as to offer to let him come to their home again… That was just the kind of thing a Villain would do.

Hitoshi wasn't a Villain, so there was only one thing he really could do, now…

Setting his stance, Hitoshi locked hands with Midoriya when the pair of them met in the center of the ring.

"Shinsou-kun, widen your stance, you're off-balance again," Midoriya said, as Hitoshi felt himself being shoved backwards, even as he tried to dig his heels into the concrete of the ring below them.

You're even trying to help me here, Midoriya, he mused, almost wanting to laugh; really, he wouldn't have thought this kind of thing was even possible, before he'd met Midoriya's sister, and then Midoriya himself in turn. Widening and then resetting his stance, Hitoshi found that he couldn't quite keep himself from saying something; he at least tried to keep it quiet: "Why did you have to be so nice?"

"Huh?"

Raising his head slightly, even as he found himself pushed inexorably backwards by Midoriya's sheer strength, Hitoshi found that he couldn't quite stop himself from chuckling, even if it was just loud enough for him and Midoriya to hear. "Your sister was right: I am a scrawny little twig."

"You've made progress, Shinsou-kun, don't be so down on yourself," Midoriya said, as the two of them continued to strive against each other, with Hitoshi feeling himself steadily driven backwards nearly two steps with every single step that Midoriya took.

"Yeah, but now I'm at the end of my stamina, and you're going to shove me out of the ring anyway," he said, as he felt himself being shoved steadily backwards; looking back over his left shoulder, Hitoshi saw that the edge of the ring was indeed coming up behind him.

"Well, you could always come back to my family's gym and work on that," Midoriya said, smiling at him even as he continued shoving Hitoshi toward the edge of the ring.

"Yeah, I guess I could," he said, as Midoriya shoved him over the boundary line and Midnight called the match. "Thank you, Izuku Midoriya."

"I'll help you set up a training-regimen, Shinsou-kun!" Izuku said, holding up both thumbs and grinning at him.

"I'll work hard to follow it, then, Izuku," he said, smiling slightly as he returned his friend's thumb-up, though he couldn't quite muster up the same amount of enthusiasm.

He really had wanted to win, at least one round of the tournament.

~MHA~

As he made his way down the hallway, Shoto narrowed his eyes as he saw the familiar, unwelcome flicker of Endeavor's Hellflame.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, glaring at the man, even as he continued determinedly on his way out; he still had a round to win.

One more round, and then he'd be facing off against Izuku Midoriya; he wondered how Midoriya's father would react, watching them fight.

"You're not acting rationally, Shoto," Endeavor snapped, and out of the corner of his right eye Shoto could see the man narrowing his own eyes. "This is the chance of a lifetime; you'll be able to surpass even All Might. Once you gain the power of One For All, you will truly become my greatest masterpiece. With that power, you will more than live up to the reason I created you."

"Is that all you came here to say to me?!" Shoto demanded, more furious than he could ever properly remember being at Endeavor's callous disregard for anything but his own ambitions.

Yes, there was a part of him that wanted to take Hisashi Midoriya's Quirk and make it a part of him – a part of him that seemed to grow stronger with every interaction he had with the man – to become a part of the family, the way that all three of the Midoriyas that he'd interacted with all seemed to be offering. Still, even in spite of the way that Midoriya's father almost reminded Shoto of his own mother – though his white hair was a more unrefined dandelion puff, in contrast to Rei Todoroki's elegant snowfall – he wasn't about to give Endeavor the satisfaction of going through with any plans that man had made for him.

Whether it was using that damned Fire Quirk of his, or inheriting One For All so that Endeavor could ride his coattails to undeserved fame.

As he continued on his way to the arena where he would be facing off against Hanta Sero – a stepping-stone on his way to testing himself against Izuku Midoriya – Shoto found that he couldn't make himself forget the look of cold avarice in Endeavor's eyes as he'd spoken about the path he wanted to force Shoto down. Or really, anyone who'd ended up having the misfortune to inherit the "perfect" combination of Quirks that he'd been so damned proud of. Shoto could still remember hearing Endeavor's arguments with Touya, back before his eldest brother had left the Todoroki family with only the promise that he'd make enough money to free the rest of them from Endeavor as soon as he could.

Of course, the last time he'd spoken to Touya, the both of them agreed that they would focus on helping Mother, first.

Making his way into the ring, Shoto narrowed his eyes as he heard Present Mic announcing his presence for the match he was set to have against Sero. Already coldly furious from having Endeavor speak to him as though he was nothing more than a tool for that man to fulfill his ambitions, Shoto found himself growing all the more furious when Present Mic announced him as that man's son. Narrowing his eyes as Sero shot a pair of streams of tape at him, Shoto glared down at the ground as he felt himself being dragged across it.

"Apologies," he muttered, turning to look at Sero as the boy stared fiercely back at him.

~MHA~

When Sero-san's half of the ring exploded with a sudden wall of ice, Izuku found himself almost involuntarily glancing up at the jagged spires at the top, before turning his attention back to Todoroki-san. Looking down at the slump of his classmate's shoulders, as he thawed Sero-san free of the ice-prison he'd created, Izuku bit his lip. Pulling out his phone to text Dad, knowing that while his father might or might not have thought to use his Telescopic Vision Quirk to see what was going on with Todoroki-san he would still want to get Izuku's own take on everything that was happening, Izuku heard the sound of a new text on his phone:

Dad For One: It seems that Shoto-kun is experiencing a significant emotional upheaval.

All For Son: Yeah; I wonder what happened to set him off like that.

Jake: Yeah, he really did seem like he was doing at least a bit better when we were all having lunch together.

All For Son: I'll try to talk to him when I see him again.

Dad For One: Speaking before the match you're set to have with him would be best, Izuku.

All For Son: Yeah, I know that, Dad. Thanks, though.

Jake: Good luck, Izu.

All For Son: Thanks. :)

Looking back over the conversation that he'd had with his family, Izuku found himself wondering again just where Bambaa-chan had gotten the name she used when all of them would text each other. The first time he'd asked her about it, she'd purred loudly, and the amusement carried by her Mental Voice Quirk had suggested that she was sharing some kind of private joke when she'd said that "Jake" was at least shorter than "Zunar J-5\9 Doric 4-7". He still didn't quite know what Bambaa-chan had been talking about when she'd said that, but under the circumstances it wasn't something he could think too much about.

~MHA~

Dodging out of the way as best as he could manage as his opponent slammed feet-first into the ground, Neito ground his teeth again. Here, again, was one of the many reasons he hated fighting alone: here he was, back to being Basically Quirkless Monoma. It was what everyone at his old school – before he and Izuku, the perfect partner that Neito hadn't ever really expected to find, had met that first fateful day at U.A. – had called him, and as the student from 1-A with the Tail Quirk bounded over to smack him in the face, Neito found himself determinedly cursing whatever sadistic bastard had thought up the idea of solo battles in the first place.

Them and whoever had made up U.A.'s standard entrance exam, they'd probably had some kind of Quirk that was just perfect for combat; selfish bastards, all of them.

Deciding to spare himself at least some of the humiliation of losing to the guy who was inevitably going to end up throwing him out of the ring otherwise, Neito couldn't quite manage to stop himself from stalking as he made his way over to the edge of the ring the both of them were standing in. The sound of the crowds cheering as he stepped over the edge and made his way down the first set of stairs brought a snarl that Neito only barely managed to twist into a smile as he stomped down the steps to the arena floor. More than anything, he just wanted to get back to where Izuku was sitting.

Visiting with his perfect partner had always seemed to make him feel at least that much better.

~MHA~

/Geez, when did she turn into Billy Mays?/

Turning as Bombalurina-chan purred in clear amusement, as the four of them continued watching the one-to-one matches that constituted the last round of U.A.'s Sports Festival competition, Hisashi chuckled softly as he rubbed between her feline ears.

"Billy Mays?" he asked, feeling both amused for the fact that his daughter had recovered enough of herself that she could find some amusement in all the happenings around her, but also curious about just who it was that she seemed to be speaking about.

/Yeah,/ Bombalurina-chan said, purring more loudly. /He's really funny, Papa; I'll send you some videos of his. He worked in advertising, though, and considering what Mei-chan was doing…/

Bombalurina-chan trailed off as he continued to rub her ears, settling into his side and purring. More than a few times, since he'd first brought Bombalurina Elliot into his home and offered her a place in it, Hisashi had found himself reflecting with amusement that having her in his home was truly the best of both worlds when it came down to either having a daughter or having a cat. Still, he'd sometimes tease her with the prospect of "adopting" a little sister for her from the pet shop.

Bombalurina-chan's dry, deadpan sarcasm in response never failed to amuse.

~MHA~

When Monoma had thrown himself down in a free seat next to him, the sight of the sharp-edged grin on his face let Izuku know that he wasn't taking his loss to Ojiro-san remotely well.

"Neito-kun," he said, as Monoma reached out for his right arm. "What are you doing?"

"Your Dad gave you Air Cannon awhile ago, right?" Monoma demanded, as Izuku turned to glance back at the sound of footsteps making their way over to where he was seated.

"Hey," Ojiro-san called gently, and Izuku found himself wincing as Monoma's grip tightened almost painfully around his wrist. "Monoma-san, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Monoma demanded, sharp-edged smile back on his face as he turned to face Ojiro-san.

Turning his attention firmly forward, having the distinct feeling that the conversation between Ojiro-san and Monoma wasn't meant for him to hear. It didn't seem like that much of a concern, since Ojiro-san had decided to talk about whatever it was in the stands instead of finding a secluded place to speak to Monoma, but he still thought it would be kind of rude to eavesdrop like that. Looking down into the ring, Izuku found that the battle between Kirishima-san and Tetsutestsu-san had devolved into the kind of slugging match that he'd subconsciously been expecting.

Really, the both of them did seem to be too straightforward to go in for anything else.

"Neito-kun- ow!" he exclaimed, as he felt Monoma's fingers digging into the flesh of the inside of his upper-arm.

"Arrogant bastard, treating me like I'm some kind of damned charity case," Monoma snarled, sharp-edged smile looking even sharper even as he seemed to force himself to loosen his grip, turning to Izuku as his smile softened, looking more than a little worn around the edges. "You really should have been in 1-B with the rest of us. You don't fit in with the rest of those bastards at all."

Not knowing quite how he could explain to Monoma that no one in 1-A actually fit the preconceptions that Monoma had somehow formed of them, Izuku turned his attention back to the ring. It looked like Ashido-san and Honenuki-san were going up against each other next.

"Well, at least someone from 1-B is going to make it to the next round," Monoma said, sounding at least slightly more pleased than he'd heard from his overbearing friend since the start of this stage of the Sports Festival.

Sure enough, given Honenuki-san's ability to soften the ground, Ashido-san didn't have any real chance to use her Acid Quirk to do any damage before she had been sunk halfway into the formerly-solid cement of the ring and ended up immobilized. Monoma seemed at least a bit more settled once Honenuki-san had defeated Ashido-san, but when Yaoyorozu-san and Tokoyami-san made their own way up into the ring, Monoma sat back down in his seat looking bored again.

Though really, Izuku supposed he shouldn't really be surprised, since Monoma wasn't fond of anyone in class 1-A aside from him; Bambaa-chan didn't even count, since she was a part of class 1-C.

~MHA~

"Ah, it seems that there is a limit to Momo-chan's Quirk," Hisashi said, looking down at the screen displaying the replay of the battle that had just occurred.

/Yeah, it looks like she needs to think really hard when she wants to create something; that's not really something you can afford in combat,/ Bombalurina-chan said.

Hisashi chuckled softly as he watched her long tail twitch; it was a clear sign of both her interest in the battles occurring below them, as well as the fact that she was pleased. It was a rather amusing, the way her tail acted to communicate the expressions that were in effect completely hidden by her face. Really, such a thing was true of anyone who had been born with such comprehensive Mutation Quirks.

Which was why a great many of them had given them over to him, back when Quirks had first emerged in the world. Truly, there were times when Hisashi found himself wondering if Bombalurina-chan would ever tire of the many accommodations she was forced to make with regard to her own Quirk, and ask him to take it from her as those he'd known in the past had done. Still, for the time being Bombalurina-chan seemed satisfied with using Mental Voice to make herself understood in place of the notebook he'd found her with on the night that he'd taken her into the Midoriya household and made her a part of their family.

The night the Rosaru Ward had perished in flames.

/Well, that was quick,/ Bombalurina-chan said with an amused purr, bringing Hisashi's attention firmly back to the present from which it had clearly wandered.

"Oh?" he asked, turning his eyes to Bombalurina-chan, wondering just what it was that she'd been watching while he'd been musing on the circumstances that had first brought the pair of them together.

/Well, Ibara's vine-hair managed to ground out Denki's electricity and she tossed him out of the ring, which was pretty much what I expected to happen. I just didn't expect it to go quite so fast./

"Probably wanted to avoid a drawn-out slugging match like with those two hard-headed scrubs," Tenko-chan said, glancing over at the pair of them.

/Yeah, that's probably it,/ Bombalurina-chan said, nodding as Hisashi stroked behind her right ear, allowing herself to relax into his hold once again.

"Yes, I suppose that does make sense," he said, smiling softly as Bombalurina-chan leaned into his left side once more. "It seems Katsuki-kun is going to be next."

~MHA~

As he stepped into the ring, facing down the girl who seemed to be making such an impression on Izuku – or maybe it was just the nerd being his usual awkward self around people he didn't know, but it was more fun to tease the nerd as if he was looking for a girlfriend – Katsuki grinned as he saw the look of resolve on her face. She was starting to remind him more than a little of the nerd, too.

"All right, Rocketeer, let's see how you do without your jetpack," he said, grinning as Uraraka crossed the length of the ring and the pair of them faced off with each other for real.

Uraraka didn't seem to know quite what to say to that, but before he could offer to show her the movie that sis had found – it was a pretty cool one, even though it seemed to actually be older than Uncle Sashi, given that everyone in it was Quirkless – Uraraka was running at him and he needed to focus on fighting if he was going to make any headway against her. Blowing her steadily backwards with his explosions, since all she seemed to be doing was running at him, Katsuki found himself wondering if she even had a plan.

Izuku, huge nerd that he was, would have had at least an outline of what he'd planned to do when he went into battle – just an outline, though, since Uncle Sashi had knocked into both their heads how things could go sideways when you were trying to fight someone – and since Uraraka had reminded him more than a little of the nerd, he'd kind of expected her to be doing the same kind of thing. Still, his own explosions were playing hell with his vision, so he couldn't really say that she wasn't doing anything to fight against him.

He could just say that he didn't know what kind of plan she actually had.

For however long it took for him to drain off what seemed to be the last of her stamina, Katsuki couldn't stop himself from wondering just what in the hell she thought she was doing.

"Thank you, Bakugo-kun, for keeping your eyes focused on me. Release!"

What in the hell? Looking up, Katsuki could barely hold back a laugh as what looked like a good portion of the entire fucking ring started falling down on his head as Uraraka clasped her fingertips together. Holy shit!

Raising his right arm, careful to brace it as best as he could, Katsuki unleashed the largest blast he could withstand into the mass of falling debris. Goddamn, that was a hell of a thing, he mused, gritting his teeth in a fierce grin as he blew all of them into gravel.

"All right, not bad for an opening move, Uraraka!" he called out, grinning all the wider. "Let's see if you can follow it up!"

Right when he was about to run out to the center of the ring, to confront Uraraka head-on and see what she could really do, he saw her stumbling suddenly as she tried to take a step forward. Rushing forward, just as Striptease started heading into the ring to check up on what was going on, Katsuki pulled her up onto his back before she could fall unconscious to the ground. Well, this seems familiar, he reflected, smirking softly as he thought back to when he and Izuku were little kids.

He'd done just this same kind of thing, back then, whenever the excitable little nerd would overuse the Quirks that Uncle Sashi gave him and end up making himself fall asleep.

"Make sure she gets to Recovery Girl," Striptease said, a sly smile on her face that Katsuki just managed not to roll his eyes at. "You know, ladies love chivalry," she said, and Katsuki could only hope that she'd at least turned off that damned mic of hers.

"Whatever, Striptease," he grumbled, swallowing a laugh as he hauled Uraraka down the stairs and out of the ring.

Behind him, he could hear a cheer going up.