"Wait. What?" demanded Shouji.
"It's tomorrow," Ojiro repeated.
"How can it be tomorrow?" Shouji waved his arms about dramatically.
"The passage of time..." the tailed boy replied. Izuku made no comment but he, too, had kind of sort of maybe forgotten that the Sports Festival was tomorrow. In his defense, some pretty distracting things had been going on in his life. For one, his current theory was that he had many hours of memories of being a girl. The greenette had thought long and hard about whether anyone in his dream vision things had ever referred to Izuku as a "he" or a "she" and couldn't for the life of him recall. It was, of course, possible that his brain would automatically edit any female pronouns into male pronouns to fit with Izuku's worldview.
Anyway, his current theory was that his memory donor was a tele-technopath by the name of Miranda Dorman aka Bit Weasel. Either an American or Australian citizen (or maybe both somehow--it wasn't clear) who was known to have attended college with Destro, she may have survived the war. It wasn't known for sure whether she escaped to the Rebel Isles or died in the last stand of the MLA at Utapa. A few sources, including eyewitness accounts from prisoners of war, described Bit Weasel using her quirk both to read and manipulate thoughts and memories, sometimes turning loyal soldiers into traitorous assassins and siccing them on their commanders, but not much detail was available otherwise. The MLA had one high ranking officer with an immortality quirk of some kind, so perhaps it had two, but it was more likely that Izuku's dreams were Dorman's memories passed on to a third party, maybe a descendant, and then later to the greenette. There was no reason to believe Bit Weasel's quirk or a derivative thereof would be capable of altering Izuku's neural pathways to give him muscle memory for skills he had never heard of, but no reason not to believe it, either. The memory transfer was probably an unintentional side effect. Why would anyone do that purposefully? There wasn't any point.
Izuku's other leading memory donor candidate was Xavier Verwey, aka Fractal, a South African
who had definitely studied internationally although it was unclear if he attended school in the USA, let alone with Destro. Izuku considered Verwey because no one had any idea at all what the man's quirk was (there were only a handful of photos of him and little other information) so potentially Fractal's meta-ability could involve some kind of possession, mind control or memory alteration. Verwey's fate was every bit as mysterious as Kuma's although the man only vanished in the final week of the conflict. It was disconcerting to realize there were far more of Destro's generals unaccounted for in the aftermath of the MLA War than arrested or confirmed dead. In fact, of Destro's inner-ish circle there were only four individuals (including Destro himself) whose fates were completely clear.
Izuku couldn't perform further analysis on these suppositions, however, because he hadn't had any lucid dreams recently. He'd had no chance to listen for a name, search for a mirror, or try to rule out options. There was also the problem presented by Switcher; seeing someone didn't necessarily rule that individual out as Izuku's memory donor because the changeling might be impersonating anyone. The greenette could rule out Kuma, Chris, Switcher himself , and probably Osinov (because if that had been Switcher impersonating Arch during that bloody fight, the changeling would probably have shifted to a form with a more useful quirk for indoor combat). Other than those anyone was a possibility.
"I'm not worried," Kacchan said with a yawn, showing off his pointy canines. Right. In the real world they were talking about the Sports Festival. However, if Katsuki really weren't worried he wouldn't need to posture like that.
"Sure, Kacchan," Izuku said soothingly. The blonde glowered at him.
"I'm kind of looking forward," Ojiro grinned, "to seeing what kind of fake name Todoroki decides to use."
"Me too, honestly," Izuku admitted. "Should be interesting."
"You know," Todoroki appeared from an alcove in the locker room, "I was going to declare war on someone today like the general education student and Monoma." That had been weird. A group of random people they didn't know had come to their classroom as 1-A was preparing to head to lunch and started explaining how they were going to crush them in the Sports Festival. Most of 1- A had just stared in bewilderment at the other students boxing them in until Izuku pointed out that they could just leave via the windows, after which the students boxing them in had watched in bewilderment as half of class 1-A abandoned ship (well, abandoned school).
Todoroki continued, "I was going to say something about how I must prove my prowess in combat with out my father's quirk," what was he even talking about? "But I'm in such a good mood... I don't think I will. Good luck everyone." Todoroki practically skipped out into the hallway.
"O-okay then," said Sero. "That was... weird, right?" "Yup, that was weird," Mineta agreed.
"Well, I am pleased to see our classmate in such high spirits?" Iida said, sounding more than a bit concerned.
"This is going to be really interesting, I think," Shouji departed and Izuku followed shortly, joining the growing crowd of 1-A students waiting to be released into the stadium.
Hoping his slicked back hair dyed black would serve sufficiently to obscure his identity, the (usually) greenette stepped into the center of UA's stadium. There were... a lot of people in the stands. They seemed a world away, like the heralds gazing down from the cloudy domain of a distant sky god. Izuku felt the weight of all those eyes pressing on him and tried to ignore them in favor of focusing on his classmates.
"And here we have class 1-A!" Present Mic called out cheerfully. "These students have been through quite a trial already and they're eager to prove themselves today!" A long, rolling cheer erupted from the stands. Uraraka and Ojiro began to smile tentatively at the welcome. Izuku, on the other hand, ducked his head and hid in the wakes of Shouji and Iida.
Midnight prowled up onto a dais, the huge screens at either end of the stadium focusing in on her as she spun a wheel to determine the first exercise. "We're starting out with an obstacle course, listeners!" Present Mic announced. "The first forty contestants to finish will advance to the second round! Everyone to the starting line!"
Izuku was separated from his friends as shoulders jostled and students migrated towards the designated location. For the life of him, Izuku couldn't remember if the starting line had been there before Midnight spun the wheel... Had it suddenly appeared out of thin air? The greenette found himself standing at the edge of a group of 1-B and general education students. "On your mark, get set, go!" Apparently just saying "start" as Present Mic had at the entrance exam wasn't dramatic enough for a televised event.
The mob (and it really was a mob) of students moved out with a storm of flying elbows and an avalanche of shouting. The mob thinned quite quickly, though, Izuku finding himself in the middle of the pack. He didn't want to tire himself out by sprinting just yet.
Todoroki flew past like some kind of demonic snowboarder riding on a thin ribbon of ice. He quickly overtook even Iida. "And there he goes, Shimizu Zuko pulling into the lead!" Izuku choked. There was no time to laugh... Shimizu meant "water" and then apparently the glacier- summoner decided to make a reference to a fictional character with a similar scar... Izuku was a bit surprised that stoic Todoroki knew about that series, even given the recent reboot ... and this whole situation didn't seem like Todoroki Shouto wanted to branch out and make a name for himself. It seemed like he had specifically chosen a pseudonym with the express intent of snubbing his father as much as possible.
Perhaps Izuku should think about all that later, sometime when the stakes were lower, sometime when he wasn't in danger of embarrassing himself on national television.
Zero pointer robots emerged from hiding and trundled towards the contestants. They didn't actively attack, but the crowd scattered, diving for the meager cover provided by the lumpy terrain near the edge of the course. Izuku, confident in his ability to predict the robots movements, dodged between the two behemoths and continued on his way. It was more the shock factor than actual danger that sent most of the students scattering like a flurry of snowflakes. Many members of 1-A and some members of 1-B were no more intimidated than Izuku and passed this tria,l without much difficulty.
Izuku saw the next obstacle from a significant distance. Huge pits were hard to miss, after all. Plenty of students, including Kacchan, a girl with a jet pack and Todoroki, had not been phased in the slightest by the crevasse, propelling themselves easily over the gap. It looked like there was a way to jump across on widely spaced tree stumps, but Izuku didn't think he would be able to make
the longest leap required.
There were also cables across the gap... and a slackline. Izuku could work with that. If he lost his balance on the line he would catch himself as he fell and continue hand over hand to the other side, but hopefully he could just walk all the way; it would be much faster.
The greenette hopped up on the slackline and began to stride across with ease. Looking down--why was he doing that, that was a terrible idea--Izuku spotted safety nets awaiting in the bottom of the trench in case someone ran afoul of bad luck--and there went a 1-B student already, losing his grip on one of the cables and tumbling into the pit. Izuku hissed under his breath as an incredibly impolite and impatient individual jumped up behind him on the slackline. The line jiggled and nearly threw him off as the impatient and impolite individual made a mistake and went tumbling into the pit with a high pitched shriek. She (or he) probably deserved that. The obstacle safely traversed, Izuku hopped off the line and broke back into a run.
A few small obstacles followed, but none were nearly so memorable as the robots or the pit.
How many people were in front of Izuku now? He hadn't tired to keep track. It didn't matter, really. He was doing his best and whether or not he was in the top forty wouldn't change the best he could do.
The crowd had thinned away to almost nothing. Izuku could only see one student ahead of him-- Asui--and couldn't hear anyone behind him.
The finish line came into view, as did a large number of students moving slowly across a minefield. Izuku wasn't quite sure what let him know at a glance that the the landmines were there, but he knew.
Izuku slowed to a swift walk and began to navigate by instinct. Of all the super bizarre skills that he had inherited, the ability to spot the tell-tale evidence of shallowly buried explosives at a glance and avoid them with little effort might be the most concerning. Izuku overtook a number of other students, although he didn't pay attention to who they were as he needed to keep his eyes on the ground.
Wait. There were no more mines? Where did the--oh. He had passed the finish line. "Yamamoto Akira in seventeenth place!" called Present Mic. Seventeenth, huh? Well, that wasn't spectacular but Izuku hadn't expected to do spectacular and he was in the top half of the people who passed. Izuku allowed himself a small smile as a short cheer rose from the crowd. It was impressive that they still had some enthusiasm left for him after celebrating for sixteen others.
"Hey, nerd," Katsuki greeted him.
"Are you in first place or second place?" Izuku asked, because he couldn't imagine Kacchan in a rank lower than second.
Kacchan growled unhappily. "Second, but I'm gonna' show that "Shimizu Zuko" next round."
Izuku couldn't keep a straight face despite the blonde's menacing tone. Something about Todoroki calling himself Zuko was just too funny. "Oh my god," he choked. Kacchan glared at him.
The final student to finish the obstacle course, a dark haired girl from gen ed who wore a look that said "I am here because my parents forced me to participate, but they can't force me to smile much as they might like to," finally shuffled across the finish line. The crowd cheered for her, too, even more enthusiastically than for Izuku. Perhaps they loved their underdog stories? The gen ed girl
scowled and stalked away towards the locker rooms.
Midnight spun the wheel again to choose the next event. "Cavalry battle!" Present Mic announced. They were, apparently, going to form teams of four with one individual riding on the others' shoulders. The rider would try to steal headbands from other riders. Each headband was worth a certain number of victory points; Todoroki's reward for coming in first in the obstacle course was a headband worth more than all the other bands combined, also known as a huge target on his back. As teams began to form, however, Todoroki had no trouble recruiting "horses." It must be because his quirk was so powerful that those allying with him believed the glacier-summoner would be able to defend himself effectively from any and all attacks.
"Come along with me, nerd?"
"Sure," Izuku agreed. "We need someone for ranged combat..." Kacchan "hmed" in reply. "Tokoyami!" Izuku called to the bird headed classmate. "Join us?"
Tokoyami and his familiar considered this for a moment before accepting the offer. "We need one more," Katsuki scanned the crowd.
"Let's grab Yaoyorozu," Izuku said, noticing that she was yet to join a team. "She's very smart and good at adapting in unforeseen situations. We could use that."
"I'll see if I can get her," Kacchan swept through the crowd and, after a brief discussion, returned with Yaoyorozu.
"Who's the rider?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Not me," Izuku and Tokoyami said together. Katsuki, capable of huge leaps, devastating medium range attacks, and brief flight would be ideal. Yaoyorozu would likely serve the rider role well, too, because it would give her the opportunity to quickly create weapons and armor in response to the rapidly changing tide of battle.
"It's probably best if Bakugou is the rider," Yaoyorozu said.
It took them several tries to assemble into a reasonable formation. Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami and Izuku had very different builds and were not at all the same height. It made arrangements a bit awkward. Eventually, Yaoyorozu created over the shoulder harnesses for the team which greatly relieved the strain on the joints. The greenette took the opportunity to approach Midnight and make sure they weren't violating any rules with that and then preparation time was up.
The event began with Katsuki blowing up Sero and Todoroki's team blasting off into the sky with the help of Uraraka and a support student's jet pack. "Alright then," Izuku said. It was a solid strategy. Todoroki and company didn't stay in the air long, though, touching down half way across the stadium and stealing a headband off a team led by a 1-B student. There was absolutely no need forthem to steal headbands and it might not be the best strategy. Getting close enough to steal a band from another team meant that other team was close enough to steal a band from you, and the million victory point bandana wasn't something to risk.
The chaos intensified. Throwing himself into the air and raiding other teams like some kind of swashbuckling pirate, a cackling Kacchan brought back headbands from four stunned contestants. When other teams attempted to steal points back, they were met by Dark Shadow's claws and Yaoyorozu's freshly manufactured can of mace. Meanwhile, Todoroki carried out vicious raids on half a dozen other teams, often freezing their feet to the ground before approaching. The glacier- summoner tried that on Izuku's team once, but the combined attack power of Dark Shadow and
Katsuki (as well as Yaoyorozu's not so idle threat to build a flamethrower) convinced the attackers that it wasn't worth it. Katsuki made one attempt to steal Todoroki's million point headband and was dissuaded when the entire enemy team launched itself skyward again. Kacchan and Todoroki's groups kept their grudging distance after that.
Someone on Izuku's team--and he wasn't quite sure who the guilty party was but suspected Dark Shadow--had started singing a song with lyrics about "being a pirate" after Kacchan made the mistake of growling "arr" when returning from his first successful raid. Before long they all had the tune stuck in their heads. Katsuki kept shouting at them to "stop singing that god damned song or so help me you won't live to see final round," but as the three-quarters mark ticked by, Izuku heard the blonde humming along.
The buzzer roared and the competition ended. Riders jumped down from their perches and horses stretched their sore shoulders.
Hearing, again, "Shimizu Zuko" take first place had a good half of the remaining contestants struggling to hold back some form of laughter. Kacchan just grumbled about second place and promised to "kick that Zuko's ass" next round. Typically the Sports Festival ended with some sort of battle royale, so Katsuki and Todoroki would probably have a chance to fight each other again.
"Shimizu Zuko..." Yaoyorozu shook her head. "People have to know, right? They just have to know Todoroki Shouto is Todoroki Shouto, not Shimizu Zuko. What must the media be making of this?"
"Good question." There would likely be confusion and rampant speculation and, of course, Endeavour had public relations people whose sole purpose in life was to spin chaos like this into positive light. "It's must look odd."
"You, Midoriya and I are also employing pseudonyms," Tokoyami pointed out. Izuku hadn't been paying enough attention to get an exact number, but close to half of class 1-A had chosen to obscure their identities for the Sports Festival, many feeling paranoid after the USJ attack and hoping to keep their family members out of danger.
"Yes," Yaoyorozu argued, "but we're not recognizable. My family is, well, rich and somewhat famous but people don't know what we look like and certainly no one will question your alternate choices, either of you, but if, say, Iida had chosen to change his last name, everyone would still know who he was and they'd wonder what was going on."
"You have fair points," Tokoyami acknowledged. "I have been wondering, Midoriya," he admitted, "why you have gone to such extreme lengths to obscure your identity?" He must mean the hair style. "Is this because you are interested in becoming an underground hero?"
"Yes," Izuku answered quickly. They weren't his main reasons, but Izuku's career ambitions were certainly a part of his motivation.
"He just wants to be all mysterious," said Dark Shadow, nosing over Tokoyami's shoulder. "Be polite," the bird headed boy told his familiar.
"There's nothing wrong with being mysterioussss... but he is, don't deny it," Dark Shadow said as Izuku shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. "No one knows what his quirk is, no one even has a clue, he knows all kinds of things no one else in class does, and he's now being so careful to hide in plain sight. It's like he has a... Dark Shadowy past."
Izuku had no idea how to respond to any of that, not the (probably correct) assessment of his conduct in school, not the horrible and completely unexpected pun, not Tokoyami's long-suffering expression, not Yaoyorozu's valiant attempts not to laugh.
"I'm going to go see Ojiro," Izuku decided squeakily, because sometimes running from a conversation was the best option. "It looks like he was in one of the teams that's going to advance..."
Ojiro stood stiffly in the center of the arena, eyes wide and lips thin. "Hey?" Izuku called. "Is... everything alright?"
The tailed boy turned to stare at Izuku and said, "How do you stand this?"
"What?"
"It's been only fifteen minutes while you missed a whole week, how do you stand this?"
"What?" Izuku repeated, flailing to grab at the context of their conversation.
Ojiro shook his head, tail lashing. "I don't have the slightest idea what just happened. The whole round. I don't remember a thing."