That night after the USJ Incident, the staff of UA was sitting in council as Detective Tsukauchi gave a report on what the police learned.
"So far our investigation into the League of Villains has turned up with no leads. A search of Shigaraki or Kurogiri has not shown anything, nor do we have anyone with a registered Quirk matching theirs."
Vlad King sighed. "Most likely they're using aliases. Meaning they aren't citizens."
"That attack on the USJ was too bold," Toshinori noted. "The ringleader, Shigaraki, acted far too much like a stereotypical comic book villain. But he only bragged about the Nomu's powers. And when things didn't go his way, he got visibly upset."
Flash Magnus nodded. "Everything he said while relatively sane, he did so with a straight face. He also talked about Nomu like he was a pet or something."
"Like the sort of person who had never been told 'no' in their life; A completely spoiled brat," Aizawa added.
"What about the rest of the League of Villains?" Midnight asked.
"In total, we arrested 72 villains. All of them small-time thugs who usually lurked around back alleys." Naomasa said. "Almost none of them had worked together before, yet this psychopathic manchild was able to get them all to follow his insane plan."
"It's not too surprising. More heroes are showing up on the streets, and plenty of villains are starting to feel the pressure." Starswirl said. "They're desperate for any cause to rally around, anything that would give them what they think is a better life. But one thing is for sure... The next time we hear from the League of Villains, they're bound to have stronger team members."
"Or maybe..." Celestia frowned. "They already do and this was merely a test."
"Celestia does have a valid concern," Nedzu said. "Shigaraki is in some ways much like our students. He has much potential in him but requires guidance. It's likely that someone is teaching him."
Toshinori looked concerned. "And considering the number of Quirks that Nomu had...I have a very sinking feeling I know who that teacher might be..."
"I share your concern, Toshi," Mistmane said gently. "We were all there that day. You HAD to have killed him."
"But considering the kind of man he is...no doubt he either had backup or someone managed to reach him in time to heal him." Starswirl frowned.
"Hey, Twilight, are you okay?" Izuku asked as he sat with his friend at the park. Class 1-A had been given the rest of the week off to recover from the insanity of the USJ Incident.
"I'm just...still thinking about Shigaraki..."
Izuku looked at Twilight with understanding. If it hadn't been for Tony, Izuku would've been dead but he did it to save the life of the girl who became his first true friend, the girl who he had to admit he may or may not have had a crush on for the past nine or so years.
"You did what you had to do, Twilight. He was going to kill us if Tony hadn't been there to slow him down."
"But I can still feel the blood, Izuku!" Twilight cried, turning to him, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I sliced off his hands at the wrist! I didn't kill him but I still maimed another person!"
Twilight looked ready to go into a nervous breakdown but suddenly found herself getting pulled into a tight hug by Izuku. The girl blushed in surprise as her best friend held her tightly but gently, feeling her heart rate slow down to a manageable pace.
"It's okay, Twilight. I'm here..."
Twilight had calmed down but now the tears were flowing more freely as she tightly hugged Izuku back, softly sobbing into his chest.
Soon, the free week had passed and Class 1-A was back in school, the students talking about all the crazy news feeds that had happened since the incident.
"I actually got to talk with some of our peers over in Class 1-B," Junko said. "Apparently one of their students is stupid enough to think the whole thing was a publicity stunt."
"Wow! How fucking stupid can you get?!" Katsuki barked out laughing.
Fumikage just shook his head. "It's foolish to think he could handle a real attack. Had the villains not been low-tier, or had the target not been All-Might, some of us might have lost their lives."
"What a chump. I hope Vlad King knocks it into him that what happened was serious!" Rainbow frowned.
"Places everyone!" Twilight called out as everyone got into their seats just as Aizawa came in.
"You've been doing good so far in your training. Honestly, this is the longest I've gone without expelling at least one student. As scary as that is, what's coming up next should excite you..."
"Oh man, is this gonna be a pop quiz?" Ghidorah cringed. "I hate those!"
"...The UA Sports Festival is coming up."
"Oh wow, a perfectly normal school event!" Most of the class thought in unison.
"Um, Aizawa-Sensei..." Fluttershy nervously asked. "I-Is it really a good idea to hold the Sports Festival after such a big attack?"
"Personally I think it's irrational, but the school administration wanted the people to understand that the school was safer than ever and that the threat had been handled," Aizawa admitted. "Just to be safe, multiple Pro Heroes have been called in for security purposes. So while I don't think it's a good idea personally, it's not like the school didn't allow this without considerable thought put into it."
"I suppose that does make sense..." Rarity noted.
"Besides, the Sports Festival is important for all students at UA. It's the most watched event in the entire world, even more so than the Olympics." Aizawa continued.
"Can't deny that. The Sports Festival is pretty much the Hero Olympics." Flash said.
"Yeah, and those who do well enough can get scouted by top hero agencies as a sidekick. And from there some go indy and get the chance to become real heroes." Denki added.
"Which is exactly why, in spite of my personal feelings, I agree with the decision on a practical level," Aizawa said. "This is an important event, and more heroes than ever are going to have their eyes on the festival. You get one chance a year, and three chances in a lifetime. No aspiring hero can afford to miss this event. So no slacking off. Your training is more important than ever."
After class had ended, everyone was busy talking animatedly about the upcoming Sports Festival.
"This is a great chance to show how far we've come," Izuku said. "I gotta admit, I'm excited. Maybe I'll even unlock a new ability from the competition."
"That's right, you told us that you got a new Quirk from You-Know-What back at the USJ," Applejack noted. "Right fancy there Quirk, Izuku."
"Ooooh! What's he gonna get next?" Pinkie Pie excitedly began guessing. "Maybe he'll be able to teleport or stick to walls or make things explode by touching them!"
"Hey, blowing shit up is my schtick, Cotton Candy!" Katsuki snapped, having overheard the last part.
"How far along are you anyway, darling?" Rarity asked Izuku.
"Just about 25%. So far I'm able to handle any of the new facets thrown out."
"Uh, guys..." Marco awkwardly asked. "What's going on with Uraraka?"
Everyone turned to see what Marco was talking about and much to their collective shock and horror, Ochako had the most intense look on her face while surrounded by a dark aura.
"Everyone...LET'S DO OUR BEST!"
"GAAAAAAAAAH! URARAKA! YOUR FACE! YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!"
During lunchtime, Izuku, the Mane 6, Marco, and Tenya had gathered to confront Ochako on why she was acting so weird.
"You're gonna think it's stupid but... I mostly want to be a hero for the money. I know it sounds like I'm being greedy, but my family's been dirt poor for as long as I can remember. I know you guys have such admirable reasons for wanting to be heroes."
"Nonsense! What's so wrong about supporting your family and well-being?" Tenya questioned.
"What does your family even do?" Rainbow asked.
"They run a construction company but we haven't gotten any work lately. When I was little I said I wanted to use my Quirk to help them at work." Ochako explained.
"Well, that certainly makes a lot of sense. Your parents wouldn't need any heavy lifting equipment with your Quirk helping." Rarity said.
Ochako smiled before frowning again. "But daddy said he'd be happier if I was able to achieve my own dream. So I decided... I'll become a Pro Hero, sign on with a major agency, and make enough money that my parents can live an easy life."
Fluttershy smiled. "I think that's a very respectable thing to do."
"Man, both you and Fluttershy have your priorities straight." Rainbow chuckled. "You both want to be heroes for the sake of helping others that aren't you."
Ochako blushed. "Y-You really think so?"
"Click thinks you've got a noble heart." Marco smiled, his tiny companion chirping and hopping over to Ochako and nuzzling into her head as she giggled.
"Ah, it's nice to see such liveliness going on between our students." A familiar motherly voice came out as everyone turned to see All-Might and Celestia there.
"Ah-Ha! Young Midoriya & Friends! Just the ones we wanted to see!" The Symbol of Peace laughed before demurely taking out a collection of bento boxes. "Would you like to eat lunch with us?"
"So, what'd you want to talk to us about?" Marco asked as he fed Click a piece of tempura. "Does this have anything to do with the League of Villains?"
"Not exactly," Celestia said, shaking her head. "This has more to do with the Sports Festival."
All-Might nodded. "More than likely there's going to be some major competition, more so than normal. Since your class survived a major villain attack, many students might try and use this to their advantage. Some might try and force someone from the Hero Course out through their performance, especially Class 1-A."
"If a student from General Ed proves themselves in the Sports Festival, then they can be promoted to the Hero Course. To facilitate this, the Hero Course student who performed the most poorly is bumped down to General Ed in their place." Celestia explained.
"That's just plum ruthless," Applejack muttered.
"Someone planning on this might try to discredit the toughest students in the Hero Course in order to get an advantage," All-Might said. "That said, neither of us thinks any of you have anything to worry about."
"Glad to see we've got such staggering support." Rainbow chuckled.
"Ooooh! I have a feeling this is setting up for someone really cool to show up!" Pinkie said excitedly. "Someone from General Ed who has big hopes and dreams to be recognized as a Hero but knows he needs to prove himself at the Sports Festival to do it!"
"Pinkie, sometimes you scare me with how detailed your thoughts are..." Twilight said.
"Especially since they tend to come true at times..." Applejack added.
Near the end of the school day, Izuku was at his desk pondering the words All-Might had said to him after lunch.
"Remember that just as I'm different from my predecessor, you are different from me. We may both share the bond of [One For All], but you're a completely different hero. You will be the new Symbol of Peace but on your own terms. So show them the sort of hero you want to be, and make sure they understand it."
"So what sort of events do you think will turn up?" Twilight asked.
"They're supposed to be random except for the final tournament, so they could be anything," Izuku noted. "Our best bet is to just work with what we got, and aim for the top."
"Uh, guys..." Minoru nervously said as everyone turned to see several students gathered at the front door of their class.
"Let me guess, you assholes are scouting out the bigshot heroes who took on villains, am I right?" Katsuki scowled with his hands in his pockets.
"If you guys think you can handle us, you should have seen what we saw," Tony added.
"So this is Class 1-A..." came a bored-sounding voice belonging to a young man with gravity-defying indigo hair and dark circles under his eyes. "I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like a bunch of assholes."
"Hey, my brother and boyfriend may be assholes, but they care!" Elleanor pouted as she stood protectively in between Katsuki and Tony.
The young man shrugged. "I'm just disappointed to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs. You know, I wanted to be in the Hero Course. But like many of us here, I got forced to choose a different track. Such is life."
"Pinkie, you seriously scare me with your prediction skills..." Rainbow whispered to her hyperactive friend, who just giggled absently.
Katsuki merely laughed. "That just shows you were too retarded to notice that the robots in the exam had off switches to them!"
"Seriously, could you imagine this little runt crushing a robot in a single blow?" Tony chuckled, picking up Minoru by the back of his collar.
"Hey!"
"Or how about Jirou?" Sunset added, her arms folded. "These guys aren't here because they can kick butt and topple buildings. They're here because they know what it takes to be a real hero."
"We can already tell what your game is. You hope to use the Sports Festival to take someone's spot in the Hero Course." Jotaro said.
The young man smirked. "Guess I misjudged you. Name's Hitoshi Shinso."
"Oy! I'm Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu from Class 1-B!" Shouted a boy in the crowd who looked like a clone of Eijirou. "You may have kicked some villain ass at the USJ but don't count the rest of us out! We're gonna show you how tough we are too!"
"Seems everybody is out for blood..." Ghidorah smirked, showing his sharp teeth. "Well, you all better get in line because you're in front of a school of sharks!"
"Why can't we all just get along..." Marco sighed as he turned to Click, who chirped his own agreements on the matter.
The Sports Festival is coming in full-swing and everyone here is ready to show what they can do!