The UA sport's festival! Such a display, such a thing to witness! A vast circular arena built for the sole purpose of showing the world the future of Japan's heroism, surrounded by multiple kilometres of empty ground to be modified for the needs of the Festival. Several keen-eyed visitors already noted the presence of vast green statues, and a massive rift in the ground with small circular platforms jutting from the ground below.

The Festival always drew an impressive crowd. Some ten-thousand people filled the arena's seats, heroes and agents and civilians alike, all gathered for the sole reason of seeing the next generation of heroes display their prowess, the fruits of their efforts. The first-year Festival was especially popular this year; the news cycle had been filled to the brim with the story of the USJ incursion for weeks, and now many wanted to see the young men and women who had survived such a dangerous affair.

Izuku Midoriya stood amidst the crowd of students, his own Class 1-A at the front of the pack. They would be first out, followed by Class 1-B and then the other courses, General Studies and Business and Support. The latter two didn't seem so excited to be present, besides a few particular individuals who couldn't have been more happy. Izuku noted one girl with bright pink hair and curious yellow eyes strapping several different machines to herself, each more elaborate than the last.

Wait, was that a jet pack?

Blackmore was at peace, his head bowed and his eyes closed. A casual observer might think he was afraid, or perhaps trying to quell his nerves. They would be wrong; he was at peace, and conversing with God. He had found little time lately for consultation with the divine, but in the face of the many trials before him he had wondered if perhaps a moment's prayer would be misplaced. He had witnessed the face of Jesus once, on that rainy night where he had met his death.

He felt no fear. Only regret that he had failed, and a burning desire to succeed this time. He would not fail Master Midoriya; he would fight and bleed and hurt to the edge of life itself, but never once would he fail. He had sworn it to himself, on his own blood.

Not again. Never again.

He was being watched, and he did not know it. Ibara Shiozaki was a girl who knew she was strange; and her strangeness had little to do with her body. The vines upon her head were almost subtle compared to her classmates many strange and wonderful differences. Her strangeness lay within the soul, moreso her unshakable belief that she had one.

Spirituality, particularly mono-secular religions such as the many Abrahamic faiths, had died a slow death in the wake of Quirks. At first regarded as abhorrent, when it became clear they were ubiquitous some sects labelled them gifts from God. Others disregarded them, for the body was not the object; it was the soul that was eternal. Ibara was somewhere in between; her power was not a gift, perhaps, but a sign of her fate, or even a test of sorts. She had power, it seemed to say, now what would she do with it?

She watched Raymond Blackmore, whose name she knew because she had been watching him for some time. She had seen him walking in the sky all those weeks ago, when he had first come to their world. She knew he was of another reality, for she had watched him fall from the heavens, and caught him. He did not remember her, and she had been told by the man in the pink coat to say nothing of the event. She had been convinced not by his words but by the golden pillars of light around him, and the strange sensation of goodness she had felt radiating from them.

Had she known the origin of those pillars, and of their former owner, she might even have known why.

Izuku took a deep breath and looked away from the girl staring at his butler. Perhaps she was just curious, though for some reason looking at her gave him a strange sense not unlike déjà-vu. He could shake the feeling he had seen her somewhere before, not just in the school halls but elsewhere within the school. He was broken from his reverie by speech.

'This is where you will take your first step into the greater world, Izuku.' Funny Valentine advised inside Izuku's head, voice low and quite serious. 'You must take it with the utmost certainty and self-assurance. This is your day to win and your city to conquer. Victory is within your grasp; reach out and hold it tight, and don't let it go for an instant.'

"I know." Izuku whispered, nodding. "I won't let you down, Valentine."

'It is not I you should be reassuring.' Funny replied. 'Look inside yourself; only then will you be able to determine your readiness.'

Izuku would have surrendered to self reflection, but before he could lower his head he heard a voice from ahead calling for the classes to start moving. 1-A was, of course, to go first. He beckoned for his classmates to follow him, taking a moment to adjust the collar of his blue and white gym-suit before rolling his shoulders and leading his class out. His hair had grown again; it seemed to do that much faster now, and he had let his mother tie it back in a simple ponytail. That had gotten a few curious looks from his classmates, but Izuku had mostly just ignored them; he was comfortable enough, and he had learned a long time ago to ignore the stares of others.

As the class marched out through the concrete tunnel leading from the assembly hall to the main stadium itself, they were bombarded by a wave of sound. It seemed like half of Japan was in the bleachers of the arena, shouting and cheering for the next generation of heroes. Izuku looked around at them as he walked out, taking in the numbers and raising a hand to wave. Present Mic was announcing their arrival over the speaker system, heralding them as the bold young heroes who fought back the villainous invasion of the USJ.

It was loud. It was overwhelming. But not to Funny Valentine, who had held many rallies and of course been to both of his own inaugurations. Those events had been thunderously loud, tens of thousands of his countrymen excited to see him as their new President, overjoyed that he had won the day with their help. To Funny, this was just another crowd, another group of people he, or at least Izuku, would be in service to.

Izuku bolstered himself with Funny's experience, drawing strength from the older man's lack of worry or fear. He waved with one hand and kept the other at his side, his posture straight and narrow, shoulders slightly back. Behind him his classmates were waving and cheering back, and he couldn't begrudge them that in the slightest; if it weren't for Funny's tutelage, he would likely be doing the same thing without any regret. It was easy to get caught up in the moment.

Class 1-A lined up, and then Class 1-B made their way to the field. There's was a less excited reception, though cheering and shouting were still in ample supply. 1-B has proven a less exciting course than 1-A; Izuku's class had fought through a small army of villains in a stunning holdout action waiting for reinforcements, winning the day with courage and tenacity. 1-B, in contrast, had simply attended their courses, performed exercises and just generally lived the lives of normal students.

As such, Present Mic and the crowd seemed much less overjoyed. Izuku could see the expressions of several 1-B students sour as they heard the audible drop in volume, but others remained as excited as 1-A had. A mixed bag of oddities, 1-B; a boy with a speech bubble for a head, another with pitch black skin, a girl with vines growing from her scalp...

Izuku felt a strange thrill run down his spine, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap softly triggering itself inside him. This girl was clearly important, or would be in time. She shared some connection to his Stand. Izuku glanced sidelong at Blackmore, standing to his right, and noted that his butler was also watching the girl with the vines for hair. His expression was inscrutable, but the pink on his cheeks told a story his poker face could not hide.

Ah, Izuku thought. It was to be that sort of connection. He'd have to investigate the girl later.

The sight of Midnight, the R-Rated Heroine, had Blackmore literally looking up into the sky and clenching his teeth hard enough to produce creaking sounds from his jaw. He wasn't going to look, the degeneracy and loose morals of this world would not get to him. He was a gentleman and a man under control of his own body. He was strong in spirit. He would not look.

His spirit was strong. But his flesh... his flesh was many things. It was not, however, weak. He did not look. But he listened, and that was more than enough to have him turning red, reaching for his hip to return his mask to his face where it belonged. The event organizers had tried to confiscate it, but it always reappeared at his side when it was too far away. He had explained it as a side effect of his Quirk, and they had sighed before letting him pass with it at his hip.

Secure behind the lacquered wood, he felt as though he could look. So he lowered his head and opened his eyes, and then made a sound somewhere between a squeak and a choked gasp. There was little flesh being shown, at least... bare. But the outfit... skintight material, all around, her torso wrapped in some sort of leather harness that accentuated her assets to a frankly ludicrous degree. Blackmore couldn't stop looking, until he forced his eyes shut again.

Izuku had seen Midnight before, in television interviews and on magazines and the like. Her costume wasn't new to him; compared to her older costumes, this one was downright conservative, actually. It was only with the aid of Funny, who himself preferred blondes, that he managed to keep his dignity intact. Several of his male classmates weren't so lucky. Bakugou muttered a series of borderline unintelligible words under his breath, which Izuku ignored.

'His spite is beneath you now.' Funny noted, sounding somewhat impressed. 'Very good, Izuku. You must never let yourself be defined by your enemies, or even your rivals. Remain true to yourself, and he will be left weaker.'

There was another roar of cheers and applause, Midnight's voice now gone. Izuku looked up to see Bakugou approaching the stage. Yes... he had been first in the entry exams. He was to recite the student's oath and give a short speech, all that fun stuff. Izuku didn't expect him to; as a matter of fact, he was silently waiting for the bombshell to drop. Bakugou was far too abnormal to simply obey the expectations of his peers.

So it was that he stood alone on the stage, hands in his pockets, before leaning in toward the mic and staring down the entire student body.

"I vow to win." he said, voice low and bored. "The rest of you can just get out of the way."

Izuku smiled despite himself. That was Bakugou for you. It was just too bad Izuku was also quite determined to win; and that podium step wasn't quite big enough for two.

"AAAND THAT'S KATSUKI BAKUGOU OF CLASS 1-A, DECLARING WAR!" Present Mic howled after a short delay, his voice booming through the stadium. "LOOKS LIKE TODAY'S FESTIVAL IS GOING TO BE ONE HECK OF A SHOW, LISTENERS!"

The audience and assembled students seemed quite displeased; several people in the stands were outright demanding Bakugou be removed from the Festival for his lack of respect. Other students were cussing him out. Bakugou let the shouting wash over him, looking bored as could be. He was a man of action; all this preamble bored him. He just wanted to get the part where he crushed the extras and showed the world just how strong he was, and taught the rest of the class who the real future number-one was going to be.

Izuku rolled his shoulders as Midnight announced the first competition; an obstacle race. His smile was downright vicious; with Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, a race wasn't a competition; it was a cakewalk. He began loosening his top, before pausing, taking in the tunnel that would lead out into the course proper. Cramped as could be... perhaps...

The first years all assembled, ready to charge forward in the first event. Izuku grinned, pointing at the tunnel and channeling D4C. The ghostly armour formed just as the starting gun fired, and a stampede toward the cramped tunnel began.

The front-runners entered... and found themselves sprinting out through the exit... of the entrance tunnel they had first come through. First dozens, then well over a hundred students came to screeching halt as they somehow moved from the tunnel to the wrong end of the stadium. All but a few students ended up on the wrong side of the stadium, staring across its entire width as Izuku casually strolled through the tunnel, disappearing from sight.

For a moment, silence reigned in the stadium.

'This is the first step, Izuku.' Funny said. 'Now... you take the napkin!'

Izuku stepped out from between a massive fabric banner and the wall of the arena, less than ten feet from the finish line. Nobody even saw him until he stepped over the marked white line, and the first place buzzer rang. Suddenly, thousands of eyes and hundreds of cameras were all staring at a thin boy with long green hair tied back in a ponytail, dressed in the white, blue and red of a UA gym uniform, standing at the finish line with his hands behind his back.

Izuku raised a hand, giving the audience and the millions watching on TV a casual wave, before dramatically bowing.

Silence.

Whispers.

Cheers. A few at first, scattered, until people began to slowly realize that somehow, some way, this boy had just won the race.

"AND AFTER A CONFUSING START, WE HAVE A WINNER OF THE FIRST EVENT!" Present Mic began to shout again, as his brain caught up with the events of the last minute. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN; CLASS 1-A PRESIDENT, IZUKU MIDORIYA!"

The cheers began in earnest. Many were still confused, but some had began to catch on. The boy had a Warp Quirk, they supposed. That would explain what had happened; he had warped his opponents into a disadvantaged position, before warping himself to the finish line. Unfair? Absolutely. But this was the UA Sports Festival; using one's Quirk to the fullest extent was the point of the whole event, to show the world your potential as a hero. And Izuku Midoriya had just shown the world he had quite a lot of potential indeed.

'And so it begins.' Funny commented. 'You are a target now, you know. Be wary.'

Izuku said nothing, taking his time to exult in the emotion of victory. The other students had started to move again, some of them at least, but others were still flabbergasted at the situation.

Katsuki Bakugou was swearing up a storm, using his explosions to propel himself through the air over the stadium walls to avoid that stupid tunnel. How the fuck had shitty Deku managed to take first? Right after he declared he was going to win, too! Was the boy just trying to fuck with him?

Tenya Iida was already sprinting at top speeds. Midoriya was a dangerous rival, and his Warp Quirk evidently had even more applications than Tenya had previously thought. That was fine, however; Tenya would simply have to push himself harder to keep up. He would not disgrace the Iida family name.

Tsuyu Asui has been teleported by Midoriya's Quirk before; she knew that strange stomach-dropping sensation. Her powerful legs carried her with long hops, powering ahead of the other students through sheer determination alone.

Somewhere behind her Momo was also running, rapidly considering what to build to give herself an advantage.

Several students with eyes glazed over were running with a certain purple-haired student on their shoulders, who was sitting in silence, considering his next move.

Shoto Todoroki was skating along ice of his own creation, past most of his competition, all while reconsidering his prior assessment of Midoriya. The boy was much stronger than he had expected. That was fine; Shoto was still stronger. He was sure of it.

And in an apartment in downtown Musutafu, a young man was gripped with excitement. He grabbed the shoulder of the young girl beside him, pointing at the screen of their tiny television with wide eyes.

"That's the guy!" he declared, scratching at his face as he shouted. "I can feel it! That's him! That's the one!"

The girl stared at the screen wide eyed as well, one gloved hand coming up to touch the boy's hand. He grinned and jumped up off the couch, grabbing her by the waist and picking her up, spinning around.

"We're set, Eri!" the boy declared. "We just have to find him and we're good to go, the blonde guy said so!"

The girl giggled as she was swung around and around, long white hair flying all over the place. She had a patch bandage over one eye, the other a glittering red, and her skin was pale as could be. The boy spinning her was tall and well built, with a short black pompadour topping his head. By far his most defining feature was the pair of scars on his face, crossing from the upper left and right corners of his forehead across the bridge of his nose and down to the opposite corner of his face at the edges of his jaw.

Despite this fearsome appearance, he looked happy as could be, setting the girl back down on the couch and sitting down beside her. The girl snuggled close, pulling a threadbare blanket around the both of them. Their apartment was small and nearly barren, but it was shelter for the two of them, with a futon and a small kitchenette.

"Okuchan..." the boy heard, glancing down at the girl, who was looking at him with a nervous glint in her eye. "W-will... will Eri get to come too?"

"Of course!" Okuyasu Nijimura said, reaching down to touch her face with a gentle hand. "I promised I wouldn't leave you behind, ever. And I keep my promises!"

AN:

And here he is; my favourite JoBro and favourite character in all of JoJo's; Okuyasu Nijimura. What's he gonna be up to? Well, the ideal shounen crew always needs a straight-forward bruiser, and Okuyasu is by his own admission 'not very smart, you know'. As for how he got here, and what he's doing with Eri; tune in after the obligatory tournament arc, when I explain just that!

Warp Quirks make races unfair and that's something I wanted to point out. Izuku isn't here to play nice; he's here to prove himself to the world, and to himself. Funny's influence will extend far and wide, so expect Izuku to act a little differently.

This update took a while; I got distracted by some other stuff, but I figured I should get back on track sooner rather than later. So here you go, beloved readers, and don't forget to direct questions, concerns and criticisms to the review sections or my PM inbox. I love interacting with you guys, it makes this whole story much more fun to write.

Hope you enjoyed, and have a lovely day.