Fated Academia

by lucas-gilded

After the end of The Holy Grail War they made a promise. Many years later in another world of heroes and villains that promise may come to fruition.

1. Chapter 1

Hey, author is here!

Surprised? Yes, I'm not dead and yes I'm starting another fic. As most of you must be confused about what I'm talking about I'll give a brief explanation. This is my second fanfic involving Shirou and Saber following the same format as my last one. In actuality, I had this idea before writing my first fic.

And for those wondering if I abandoned my previous fic, no I haven't. I'm just not feeling well writing that anymore, but I already have most of the next chapter done(70%) and I may post it in the next months. For those interested in that fic its name is Dream of an Everdistant Avalon: Road of two shinobi.

Anyway, I'm using this fic to get back into my writing habits and try to solve my problems with my other novel, but at the same time I pretend to take this novel seriously so don't worry.

Now as always, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

*Chapter start*

In the middle of a small valley isolated from any form of civilization, a huge complex of buildings can be seen illuminated by the first rays of sunlight bringing it to a new day of activities.

And just as the sun rises it brings its light to a small gap between the curtains of a certain dormitory's room, shining on the face of a woman that can be said to be the very definition of sleeping beauty.

Feeling the light of the sun over her face she slowly wakes up, opening her eyes briefly before shutting them close due to the intense light, but that matters not as for in that brief moment her eye's beauty was in full display.

Letting a yawn escape her mouth the woman sits up on her bed removing the bed sheets covering her body, she once again opens her eyes and stretches her body while humming with satisfaction.

Getting up from her bed and taking a blue ribbon from the drawer next to her she walks to a closed door. Opening it to reveal a small bathroom, a strange sight even for prestigious schools such as the one they had been inhabiting for the best part of the last decade, a fact that the woman is glad to remember every single day.

Walking into the bathroom she gets in front of a relatively large mirror on the wall and takes a look at the reflection on it, bringing the blue ribbon to her hair. The woman in the mirror is of near unrivaled beauty, her blonde locks no different from gold in color and it reaches all the way to her waistline, combined with her deep emerald green eyes creating an image of a beautiful woman even if one were to ignore her face and body. Her body is well proportioned and slightly toned, despite its rather curvy figure, reaching a height of a hundred and seventy-two centimeters coupled with a porcelain-like neckline. Her angular face is adorned with long feminine eyelashes, thin eyebrows, a small chin, and high cheekbones slightly below her eyes.

"It's in times like this that I miss a magical armor that magically ties your hair." The woman, known as Artoria Pendragon takes her blue ribbon and ties her hair in a simple ponytail.

Finished tying her hair she turns on the water and splashes it on her face doing some simple cleanup before exiting the bathroom.

"I know you are awake Elise. It's time to get up."

"Hrrrrg… you know, every time I wake up I remember why I hate being your roommate." Not far away from the bed in which Artoria woke up another bed stands by its side. Elise sits up on the bed and speaks annoyed at her roommate.

"Good morning to you too Elise." Artoria says with a small smile.

"Good morning my ass." Elise replies angrily."Why do you even get up so early? Most of the faculty only opens at five-thirty. I'm pretty sure that keeping up with your daily routine is making my sleep time deteriorate." She says while untwining her hair from her large antlers.

"You wouldn't be having a hard time if you get that bad habit of sleeping after midnight. Even if I didn't wake up this early you would still have to be up in at least twenty minutes." Artoria says replying to her grumpy friend.

"Even then four-thirty in the morning is too much. Nothing happens in this school this early." Elise says getting up from the bed.

' That's Elise Orleans for you, my three years roommate, is pretty much the only childhood friend that I still speak to this day and my best and closest friend in this life, since our families knew each other even before the quirk happening event almost two hundred years ago, we were almost obligated to know each other. She is the single daughter of the prestigious Orleans family who are the true founders of this academy, although they were originally quirkless, Elise was born with a quirk that grows antlers on the top of her head making it extremely inconvenient to sleep which also makes her very moody in the mornings.'

"You know the saying that the early bird catches the worm." Artoria replies with a small smile while organizing my jogging clothes.

"Eh? As if. Which worm do you pretend to catch this early?" She says finally untwining her hair and walking to the bathroom

"I dunno, but at least in your case it helps in getting rid of those choco calories you got last night." Artoria replies with a grin while wearing her jogging clothes.

"You little… you who eat three people's worth of meals have no right to even comment on my weight." Elise says while throwing her pillow at her roommate ." I'm taking a bath."

Effortlessly dodging the pillow she replies."I'll be waiting for you at the tracking field then."

"Baam"

Slamming the bathroom door she angrily shouts."Who says I'm going?"

Artoria finishes organizing her things and takes her bag dedicated to jogging and walks to the dormitory door while saying."Don't be late."

Reaching the door handle, and opening the door, Artoria pauses for a second looking at the empty corridor in front of her, and mutters to herself."And another day starts."

*Scene break*

'This place is truly worth being called a prestigious academy.'

While walking to the tracking field Artoria takes the time to admire the school scenery. As a famous British academy, the scenery that adorns it is magnificent. Being located in a small valley isolated from any big metropole, Orleans Academy is a place of clean and organized appearance while also maintaining a decent deal of greenery. Having a student population of almost three thousand, the academy is a fairly big place, or at least big enough that the great majority of the students had never even seen most of its facilities and buildings.

Orleans Academy is a private institution famed for the highest employment rate in all of the UK and also competes with several renowned educational institutions across the globe. Focusing on nourishing its students from middle school and high school, which has proven to be the correct decision as it massively reduced the costs of dealing with a university-sized budget and the many of the problems that come with dealing with it.

But the greatest insight of this academy's founders was its heavy quirkless-directed propaganda. Back in the time in which the academy was founded, during the times of the Great Quirk War, a period in which quirkless discrimination and hate crimes were at an all-time high, the academy advocated for equality and proclaimed itself as a safe haven to all the quirkless children that wished to learn in a safe environment.

Although it faced many difficulties the school survived and not long after it became the alma mater for many "war heroes" and one of the greatest symbols of quirk-quirkless equality on the British Isles. Even to this day, the school boasts the reputation of having the greatest quirkless student employment rate in all of Europe.

"I guess it also didn't fall for the hero academy trap." A lot of new schools and academies are being created all over the country with the intention to be the new U.A or A.H.U in America, in all fairness they were the pioneers of the new hero era, and if all many financially failed institutes that came after it can say something, is that a school like U.A is not easily replicable.

'Although I feel like it is thanks to them that heroes nowadays feel like some market product. Since the creation of the hero job, the word hero became extremely vague even in the dictionary. As of now, heroism has become an entire industry that in some cases like Japan is responsible for an entire portion of the nation's economy.'

"But who am I to criticize them? It is still leagues better than what I used to do in my past life." Letting her mind wander into her old memories of a past life, Artoria let out a small sigh."Haaah, it's been almost eighteen years since I reincarnated in this strange world, hasn't it?"

Yes, long eighteen years… but still not enough to give up on old dreams or forget the events of those two weeks it seems.

"Haahh, what are you even thinking about Artoria? Getting yourself all distracted like that in the middle of the day." Giving herself a weak slap on the cheeks Artoria takes her mind off those nostalgic thoughts. Redirecting her attention to the track field in front of her.

As if not forgetting its origins the school maintained its military-based looks, of course doing some renovations from time to time. Actually in several places of the academy one can see its rather simplistic and utilitarian design. While for most it's not the most beautiful of sights, to Artoria is rather nostalgic and somehow comforting, remembering her of her own bland design choices.

'Now that I think about it, the principal asked the committee to organize the track-field club members to participate in a sports-based commercial of sorts. I will send Alan later to talk to them. I think he has quite a few friends within the sports clubs.'

"Truly the early bird gets the worm." Hearing her friend's voice behind her, Artoria takes her attention away from more official matters."What a treat for the eyes."

Following her perverse friend's gaze Artoria finds a well-built handsome young man running along the track field.

"How can this be the first thing you think of in the morning Elise? It is no wonder you are still single when you just keep ogling your teacher. Actually no, it seems appropriate, you guys are rather compatible." Shaking her head in fake disappointment, Artoria gives a small jab at her friend's perverted comment.

"Hey, comparing me to him is a low blow." Elise retorts, looking genuinely angry.

"True, at least he gets the girl's attention." Artoria gives the finishing blow.

"You… says the singleton. I bet you never even hugged a boy that isn't Kay for your entire life." Replies Elise while opening her water bottle to take a sip.

"Oh? Mrs. Pendragon and Mrs. Orleans. Are you two also here for a morning jog?" Noticing the two girls talking by the side of the track field the young man approaches the duo with a beautiful smile.

"Good morning Mr. Harry, we are also here for a morning jog." Seeing Arturia's inattention Elise replies quickly.

Mr. Harry is the youngest teacher to ever get a full teaching job at the academy, he reached this position mainly thanks to his quirk that increases his thought speed, subject comprehension, and learning capabilities. Although he is without a doubt a genius and a very attractive man, his personality and overhaul disposition as a person leaves a lot to be desired. Harry Ottoni is a very popular teacher with the female population of the academy due to his handsome looks, charming smile, and courteous personality

'But if that were to be all then I wouldn't have as many problems with that person as I have. Despite his teaching position he clearly leads the girls in with his talk. Due to most girls not having any mature interaction with the opposite gender someone like Professor Harry can strike the mark pretty easily with them. But the most irking fact is that despite his perverted actions he has enough consciousness to not go all in and just satisfies himself with the power that he gets by manipulating those girls, with actions ranging from ordering them around to even public shaming them. For the less observant he is simply joking around and being playful, but if someone were to pay enough attention to it the maliciousness is rather evident.'

"Hmm, a morning exercise helps to keep the mind sharp and the body healthy." Mr. Harry says with a gentle smile, but when looking at his eyes you can see them slowly coming down to look at both Artoria and Elise's body.

"Yes, I agree with Mr. Harry. Now if you could excuse us." Not wanting to give the man more attention than he deserves, Artoria passes him and enters the track field stands.

"He would be a lot hotter if he wasn't such a jerk." Elise whispers with a slightly irritated tone."Can't we do anything about him?"

"That would be hard. He didn't commit any easy to denounce crimes despite his clear intimacy with minors, if we were to try to ask for his demission we would need to make a proper argument and present concrete proof as to why we are asking the school coordinators and principal to do so." Artoria shakes her head at Elise's inquiry." Moreover, to do so we would need the support of a significant percentage of the older student body to testify against him, but even then the school isn't going to just lay him off. They will do a proper investigation before making a decision, after all, that wouldn't be just a teacher and student issue, it would directly affect the school's reputation outside."

"Argh, why does everything have to be so complicated?"

"It's just natural. There are many different trapholes to fall into when dealing with the school's reputation, the school board doesn't want to make any mistakes that would cost them more than their student's mental health.." Artoria explains calmly while putting her bag and other things on the stand seats." Besides that, our term will only last a few more months, and then we will be graduating from this school. We already have enough on our plates to be dealing with, and that guy will naturally corner himself over time."

"It's weird." Elise suddenly says.

"What is?" Arturia asks after Elise's sudden statement.

"It's weird to think that this will be our last year at this school, right? I mean we spent most of our lives living here, it just feels wrong to say that after this year we are not supposed to ever come back here." Elise says with a somber voice while looking vacantly at the track field.

'This is the first time that she is dealing with growing up out of a place. It is natural for someone her age to feel this way, I think. I wonder what kind of thoughts I had back when I left my hometown, before taking that sword from the stone. Had I been the personification of the perfect king I chose to be or had I walked forward while looking back all the way, strangely enough, I don't remember what I was thinking at the time.'

Letting a weak laugh escape her mouth, Artoria says to Elise teasingly."Well if you are going to miss this place so much why not become a teacher? That way you can stay another five to six decades and see yourself becoming one of those old-hag-teachers that you hate so much."

Giving Artoria a stinky eye Elise replies."Hahaha, as if. But can you imagine? If I were to graduate and come back early enough I would be teaching those brats."

"Very improbable that you would be teaching high school students right off the bat, but that's true I wouldn't want to be Brendon's teacher during high school." Artoria says remembering a rather unfortunate event

"Right? But I have to admit that the stunt that he pulled at the girl's dormitory was kinda epic." Elise says with a grin.

"Have you forgotten who was responsible for supervising the cleaning? And we also had to share our dorms with the younger girls because of him. That place stank for an entire week." That was just a dreadful experience.

"Hey, we are kinda lucky. Almost no school can boast of having such a legendary event happening. I'm pretty sure in a decade or two everyone will start doubting it and start calling it some kind of school legend with only some of the staff remembering what actually happened." Elsie says with a smile on her face.

"Well, I guess in the future it may have an important place within my memories." Arturia says with a smile mirroring Elise's."But for now, all I can remember is that horrible smell."

"Hey, that's part of the charm."

*Scene break*

"Din-Din-Don Don-Din-Din"

A few minutes after the announcement of the end of the classes for the day, several students with trays of food meet in the student committee room. The room is a well-lit place with a giant window facing the entrance of the room. Right in front of the window is a big desk filled with enough food to feed three people and some papers.

"Yo pres, still a glutton I see." Suddenly a new student opens the student committee door with his tray of food. Alan Stud, a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, is considered as one of the most handsome men in this school, his quirk funnily enough lets him extend his arms and legs twenty meters.

"Wow, how rare. What happened, Alan? Did your girlfriend dump you? For you to be around here at lunchtime." In front of the student committee president's desk where Artoria was sitting a girl with dark gray hair sits in one of the two sofas of the room. With a can of soda in her hand she points at the newcomer and slightly mocks him.

"Aye, aye, you're right she left me to play with her friends. There is no need to rub it in my face." Alan replies nonchalantly and brings his tray near, the other two boys sitting on a group of desks behind the gray-haired girl. Natalie Grayman, is a quirkless girl extremely popular with the older male population of the school, due to her incredible looks and her dancing skills.

"Come on Natalie there is no need to go on Alan just because your boyfriend broke up with you." Saying right beside Natalie is Elise with a half-finished tray of food and a chocolate bar by the side.

"I've already said I was the one who decided to break up with him." Natalie replies with a frown.

"That's definitely not what he says. And I'm also pretty sure he is either dating Angeline or close to doing it as of now." By the side of Alan, a boy with a dark skin tone and orange hair says with a provoking smile. Escaan Note is a student of Indian descendence and has a quirk that lets him project his voice anywhere with a hundred-meter ratio.

"What are you trying to say Escaan?" Natalie asks with an annoyed face.

"Nothing just saying."

Feeling that the friendly banter got too personal, Artoria interrupts them."Ohh… I just remembered. Alan, after lunch I need you to talk with the members of the track-field club. Apparently, the school is going to film some kind of sports commercial next week and they need the members of the track-field club for it. They are probably going to film in the afternoon during their club activity time."

"All of them? If I'm not wrong there should be around forty of them." Alan asks curiously, starting to get interested in the topic.

"It seems so. Though I'm not exactly sure why they need all of them, it should be something related to their recent improvement in their placing at the nationals, since they won both the first and third-year competitions for both genders the school probably wants to promote it and also give them a pat on the back as an incentive." Artoria says while eating her food at an alarming rate, but somehow still maintaining her dignity.

"Kay, I'll talk with them when they get on the field. Oh yeah, talking about incentives, are we going to increase their club budget?" Alan asked.

"That is not necessary, as President Artoria said they are already gaining their commercial and they are at the center of attention right now. Plus the track-field club doesn't have that big of an expenditure, most bring their equipment and the ones the school provides are still relatively new. Other sports clubs like the basketball team and the volleyball team have more of a need for that money as their balls are already two years old." Sitting opposite to the boys and the girls on the sofa is a twelve-year-old girl with red hair that isn't the result of a quirk. The girl is a seventh-grade that per nature she enrolled last year and was part of the volunteer group that helped clean the girl's dormitory after it was stinky-bombed by Brendon. She is a very diligent girl who works as the treasurer of the student committee. Normally she would not be on the school student committee, but during the bombing incident, she expressed her desire to join the high school committee because of her admiration of Artoria.

"I agree with Lily. The track club doesn't need an increase in budget, as for the other sports clubs we can hold that off for the next year. The year is almost over and big competition seasons have already ended, as of now they are probably just cooling down from the competition and taking it slow, they can hold onto those balls for the rest of the year." Sitting with the boys is the vice president of the student committee Elliot Graham. He is a handsome young man with black hair and green eyes, his charm is only increased by his quirk: Dark Angel. A pretty self-explanatory quirk. It gives him dark angel wings on his back, two pairs to be more specific.

"What I'm more worried about is the theater club. Their recent performance had been just horrible and with other school's performances this year, just makes us look like a disgrace." Elliot finishes his piece while bringing a piece of meat to his mouth.

"Yeah, this year was just sad. Even that Welsh public school had a better performance than us despite the non-usage of quirks during their presentation." Natalie says while finishing her drink.

"So what we are going to do is reduce their budget by thirty percent and call it a day?" Elise asks half joking.

"Thirty percent is a bit too much… but I do agree that with that kind of performance, they need some kind of reminder of their basic obligations, it almost looked like they didn't even try." Elliot replies to Elise.

"If we reallocate their budget, then couldn't we send it to the sports clubs." Lilian speaks quietly.

"You seem awfully focused on the sports club's budget recently." Alan says to Lily.

"Well… a few friends of mine said they need new gear for the club." Lily says shyly.

"So it seems that even our little Lily is susceptible to corruption. No doubt, it's our president's fault." Escaan provokes Lilian with a smirk on his face.

Artoria, having already finished her food, separates her trays of food and brings several school documents closer to her."With those words, it is safe to assume that you're a corrupt official, just like our Lily?"

"Of course not prez. Just during business days."

"Yeah, yeah we believe you." Getting up from the couch Elise walks to a group of desks a few meters to the right of Artoria standing in front of a bookshelf filled with files.

Taking a document from below her desk Elise grunts in annoyance."Can someone explain to me again, why we have to do this?"

"Because by the time the exchange program with Shuuchi'in Academy starts next year, we'll barely have a new student council president. The new committee won't have enough time to get used to their student committee duties whilst also having to deal with important matters, or at least that's the theory. God knows just how. much work we had to do just on our first week." Elliot says while joining Elise's side.

"Do we have anyone other than Elli who speaks Japanese that is going to Shuuchi'in next year?" Alan asks with curiosity, due to how unusual it is for students in English-speaking countries to learn the language.

"I don't think so, or at least nobody interested showed up. I've talked with their president Shirogane about what we could do about it and he said that they will try to select only students that already have some kind of relationship with the exterior, hopefully making things less awkward during the exchanges." Artoria says addressing the situation.

"We would've looked less stupid if prez were to be there. Her Japanese is near perfect." Escaan says getting ready to join his work compatriots."Hey Elliot, what about being the next school president? We'll be needing a new slave to work to death next year once prez is gone."

Escaan commentary elicits a chuckle and a frown from Artoria and Elliot respectively.

'Compared with Camelot this is just child's play.'

"There is no chance that I'm going to be the next committee president. I've already followed Artoria and Elise through this hell in my first year and even became the vice president this year. Next year I'm only going to be helping with the exchange program as a favor, I'm not even going to be on the committee." Elliot says with resolution.

Letting another chuckle escape her mouth, Artoria says."And so he's in again."

"You're such a gullible fool, Elli." Alan whispers by Elliot's side.

"You bastard, I'm really going to quit next year." Elliot says half-angrily.

"If I'm not mistaken that's what you said last year before you became vice president." Artoria says with a smirk while looking at Elliot.

"You two…" Elliot looks defeatedly at his friends.

*Scene break*

With the last gong of the day and the setting sun, most students exit their afternoon activities.

"You really don't want to stay? We are doing a U.A sports festival watch party at the boys' dorm today." Elise asks a ready to leave Artoria.

"No I'm fine, you know I prefer to return home on saturdays." Artoria says while carrying a small bag over her shoulder in front of a bus stop.

"Ahhh… sometimes you could spare some time for your friends and have some fun, I don't think uncle Ector would mind." Elise says defeatedly while walking away.

Releasing a small sigh Artoria enters the bus."Friends…"

'A woman nearing her seventies faking teenagehood… hiding the truth from everyone that matters, and having fun? I wonder if I ever knew what that is.'

Picking a seat near the bus driver Artoria seats, putting her luggage on the seat beside her, not worrying as the bus mostly stays empty. Not many students seem to want to take a long trip back home just to return after only one day, discouraging them even more is the fact that they will lose some fun with their friends over the only free day of the week.

The bus driver, who looks to be around his seventies, takes a glance at his watch looks back at the bus and says with a friendly smile."It seems that it is only you today lass."

"Hmm, I think a lot of the students want to watch the U.A festival together at the school. You know how they are , once we start talking about heroes they go crazy." Artoria replies with a smile of her own to her almost private driver.

"Don't even tell me, my grandson stays all day on his phone looking at heroes' videos, he dreams of being the next All Might or King Arthur, speaking of which, how have things been between you two?" asks while starting the engine.

Making a slightly sour face, Artoria replies."Well, you know… being the number one hero of the UK takes a lot of his time so he doesn't stay at home much, we don't have time to talk."

"That can't be lass, if you let his work get in the way of your relationship, the only thing that will be left to you two is regret."

"I understand," Artoria replied curtly, ending the conversation.

'And I also understand that with massive ego-centered maniacs like him, talking is not much of an option.'

"Oh… this year is going to be your last at school, isn't it?" asks.

"Yes, I will be graduating in a few months," Artoria replies while looking at the distancing Orleans Academy.

With a hearty chuckle, says." So who is going to keep me company on these lonely bus drives from now on?"

"Eh so you are going to miss me, ?"

"Of course I am, just like everyone else. After all, who wouldn't miss our legendary leader of the Round Table." says jokingly.

Letting a small embarrassed laugh at her nickname Artoria says." Haha… please, this is just embarrassing."

"Just admit lass. You're famous."

*Scene break*

'Most school activities end by 6 p.m such as student clubs, school-organized projects, and the duties of the disciplinary committee. Differently, the student committee duties end roughly two hours earlier than those, that's due to the fact the student council in this academy is not responsible for any extracurricular activities other than being the bridge between the school administration and the students. Anything related to their activities or presence within the club is not the direct responsibility of the student council, and while the student council has a say in the matters of the club since the budget of the club is within the student council's control. Such matters as if a club is allowed to be created are addressed by either the disciplinary committee or by the school coordination directly. Anyway, what I want to say is, it is because of that that I'm able to take the earliest bus out of the academy which departs at 4:30 p.m instead of the latest at 6:30 p.m, which matters a lot for me since that's the reason why I can get home earlier than 8 p.m.'

It is really useful to be able to get out of school earlier since it allows students without private means of transportation to get home early and decently cheap, but even so many students prefer to stay at school since even the cheap option is not that affordable.

'Even I have to take several buses, a train and go on a small walk to get back home and that is because I stay fairly close to a major city like London, speaking of which…'

"Home sweat home." Staying at the front of a relatively big apartment complex Artoria says to herself before dialing the password at the side gate for those walking in.

The apartment complex is relatively big different from most, it indicates that the people living here have a better financial condition than your regular middle-class citizen, but still not enough to be considered one of the upper echelons of society.

Walking into the elevator Artoria coincidently meets an acquaintance."Artoria you're back. It is so good to see you again."

"Come on, what's with that greeting aunt Beatrice? It almost feels like we don't see each other every week." Artoria replies with a genuine smile.

'Aunt Beatrice has been around since I moved to uncle Ector's home and I've heard she's been our neighbor since Kay was a little baby. She is a genuine person who always brightens her surroundings, even I have a difficult time not getting carried away by her, not that I generally mind.'

"Nonsense a week is such a long time, look at you so grown up already." Beatrice says while trying to get a hold of Artoria's cheeks which swiftly avoids."You are even graduating from school in a few months."

"We all grow up someday aunt Beatrice."

"Haaaa… that's true, that's true… just make sure to not become like that inconsiderate brat that only comes back when there is free food, I'm sure the only reason he's coming tomorrow is because of the barbecue." Aunt Beatrice scolds Kay half-jokingly.

"Barbecue?" Artoria asks with an almost salivating mouth.

"Oh? Haven't I told you? Silly me, tomorrow a few neighbors decided to do a barbecue while the kids watch the U.A festival, they have been going crazy about it the entire week." Aunt Beatrice explains."Originally I thought you would stay at school to watch with your friends, we might need more meat for tomorrow since you're such a glutton."

"I prefer the term appreciator of food." Artoria replies with a smile before getting out of the elevator.

"Only you can say those words lightly girl, I will be on a diet for the entire month because of tomorrow." Aunt Beatrice says as the elevator's door closes.

Walking through the corridor Artoria reaches her apartment door with the number 804 on it taking a key out of her pocket she inserts it and turns to open the door, getting herself inside just to be greeted by a man appearing to be in his sixties, sitting on a couch watching tv.

Turning his head the man greets Artoria with a smile."Welcome back, I've left your food on the sink near the microwave."

"I'm back uncle Ector." Turning her head to see the food on the sink Artoria notices the food seems to still be hot indicating that it has just been made, with a smile she says."I've heard from aunt Beatrice that tomorrow we will be having a barbecue by the pool."

"Hmmm? Are you getting excited because of the food?" Ector asks jokingly.

"Why does everyone assume that the only thing I get excited over is food?" Artoria retorts half-angrily.

"Isn't true though. Anyway, leave some food for after. Kay is coming by later." Ector says while turning off the tv.

"Already going to sleep?" Artoria asks while looking at the retreating form of her caretaker.

"These old bones of mine have been needing to rest early recently, especially if I'm going to have to stay up late tomorrow for the barbecue, if you stay awake until Kay comes, tell him to wash the dishes." Ector says while leaving to his room.

"Okay… goodnight." Saying her goodnight Artoria finishes her dinner and leaves a few leftovers for Kay while doing the dishes. Having finished everything Artoria takes her school bag and leaves to her room.

Entering her room she immediately takes her bag to a small studio-like corner of her room and takes some of her school homework.

'I bet they completely ignored their work for the day, because of their watch party and they are probably not going to do it tomorrow either since it's their day off. Next monday they will all get desperate over it.'

Having just finished the work for the day she hears the apartment door opening, closing her student book Artoria gets to the living room to greet her brother-like figure."Welcome back, Kay."

"Oh, Artoria you're home already I've thought you be home later because of the U.A festival." Kay says while leaving a backpack he was carrying on the couch."Has the old man gone to bed already?"

"Yes, he went to bed an hour ago. I've left your food in the microwave." Artoria says while sitting by the side of Kay's backpack and picking up the tv controller to turn on the tv.

"Oh, Artoria put on channel 9 I want to watch the kids beating each other." Kay says from the kitchen.

"Sure."

'What an odd way to describe it, although not incorrect. Sometimes I get curious as to how child abuse became so popular it replaced the Olympics over there in Japan, even if it's not completely surprising given that's the same country that has an odd fixation with minors.'

After a while, Kay brings his food plate to the couch and asks while watching a group of students playing a strange game of tag with their quirks."So how has been school anything new happened?"

"Not really, more of the same. Just normal classes and student committee work after." Artoria is brief as she feels there nothing remarkable happened.

"Really? No particular hard job at the student committee, knowing you, you guys could be going through the greatest crises of the student committee history and you would still say nothing is happening and everything is fine." Kay says.

"Hmf, the dirt rag talking about the unclean piece of cloth. Weren't you the one who got scammed by an ex-girlfriend and said nothing for half a year until things got out of control? Uncle Ector had to pay five months worth of rent to get you out of that situation." Artoria says jokingly.

Almost spitting the food in his mouth Kay turns around with a fake hurtful face while esclaming."Woah, woah, woah what was that for? There is no need for poking old wounds like that. I was being a good brother and worrying about you."

"Hmf, you worried? That's new." Artoria says monotone."Besides there's nothing really going on, at this point, we are just closing the year most of the important events have finished already so the workload is considerably less. The only thing that has been bothering me recently is the organizing of an exchange program for the next year."

"Next year? Why are organizing it when you are going to graduate this year?"

"Well due to several circumstances, the only time we have available to do the exchange program is a few weeks into april the start of the school year for them, but by that time our school will barely have elected a new student committee president, roughly a month in his term. The school judged that the new president would be too busy acclimating himself to the role and selecting his committee members to take care of the exchange program, which makes sense, just the normal workload of the student committee is already enough to fill our hands and then put the planning of the exchange program on top of it, it is easy to get burn out, especially with how complicated is to plan anything with people living o the other side of the world."

"Seems like a lot of work to do, especially for a bunch of teenagers. Back in my school, they would have never let students have so much responsibility." Kay says.

"Well, it is an elite school, and to correspond to that the level of responsibility the school demands is also higher. And it's not like the school doesn't do anything. We would never be able to contact a prestigious school like Shuuchi'in on our own for example." Artoria explains while taking a bite of Kay's food.

"Well, if you say so."

*Scene break*

"Artoria can you pass me that plate? You little, stay put I'm gonna pick your food." Aunt Beatrice asks while holding an energetic kid in place.

"I'm coming." Picking the used plate by her side Artoria gets up from her chair and takes the plate to aunt Beatrice."I think it's better for you to listen to aunt Beatrice Clint, if not she not going to give you food."

"But the battle royal is about to start." The kid says while flailing and jerking around trying to go to the tv positioned a few meters away from him, together with the other kids and adults.

"You can wait a few seconds. It hasn't started yet." Aunt Neatrice says while cutting the meat for him to eat."Besides if you go now Artoria will eat all your food while you're gone."

"Nooooo, she not going to." Clint screams while putting his body between Artoria and his plate of food,

"Haaah, why I'm always the villain in these situations." Artoria sighs as she turns her attention to the group of people gathering in front of a tv.

'Yesterday it was capture the flag and today is a battle royal. They sure don't go easy with the second years.'

Artoria thinks to herself while analyzing the fights going on. Several students scattered around a massive arena seemingly made entirely of concrete. They seem very tense as the announcement of the start of the round gets near.

"And here we are the start of the second round of the second day of the U.A festival. We can expect a good performance from the second years this time since most students were eliminated in the first round now only the best of the best are on this arena." The english narrator gives his overview before the start of the round."I'm sure most participants are very anxious right now, since this is the second round a good chunk of all hero agencies are looking at their performance, It is their chance to shine and guarantee an internship offer from those agencies."

"That's right Bill. They also have to be conscious that by the start of next year, they will get a second chance to try for a provisional hero license. And if they do well, it is very possible for the agencies to sign a contract with them by the end of the next year." The co-narrator complements his college.

"Yes, it is no joke. The results of this year's festival are going to be decisive in their future carries as heroes." Bill ads."Oh… it seems that we are about to start. Clinton can you remind us of a few of the notable names of this year."

"You know Bill, when they say that Japan is witnessing its golden generation of heroes, they are not joking. We have quite a few contenders for the future top ten heroes of Japan this year and quite a few surprises coming from the non-hero classes from U.A, like Amasuke Kiba coming from the support class that came in surprisingly seventh place on the last round surprising everyone with his new grappling gun invention or Saeke Nanohara snatching third place with "Not Me" quirk. But unsurprising the creme of the crop this year is the Big Three and the prodigious Sword Prince.

Taking a small pause so that the audience can get those names in the co-narrator continues."The Big Three doesn't need any introduction, Togata Mirio and Hado Nejire had stellar performances last year despite the weirdness on Tagata's part. While Amajiki Tamaki has shown this year to be one of the most versatile young heroes in U.A's history, especially with his notable performance during his probation period with professional Japanese hero Fat Gum."

"But I'm sure that everyone at home really wants to hear about U.A current biggest star." Bill says interrupting his college.

Nodding to Bill's words Clinton continues from where he stopped."That's true. The mysterious Sword Prince. To be honest other than showing his face at festivals, we don't really know much about him, since during both his internship and his time as a young supervised hero he went dark under the supervision of an underground hero. But just knowing what we know about him is enough to paint the picture. Since his first festival, he has maintained an undefeated status meaning he has placed first in every round since he had entered U.A last year, but most impressive of all is the fact he is the youngest hero student ever to receive his provisional hero license."

"That's right. The Sword Prince is the most mysterious young hero we've seen in generations, despite having an incredible track record very little is known about him." Complementing Cliinton's analysis Bill says."Even more, it seems the boy tends to work on the underground scene since the start of his hero training, analysts predict that will probably keep with that trend as he doesn't seem to care about the glamour and the spotlights of the hero career."

"PLUS ULTRA"

Without a warning a loud shout could be heard through the entire stadium, passing through the narrator's soundproof room and interrupting their conversation. The shout was so loud that even startled an eating Artoria who took her attention away from her plate to the tv once they started discussing about the students.

'How loud." With an annoyed expression Artoria resumes eating, but now with half of her attention on the tv screen.' I never understood what's with people watching these U.A Festivals. Most of the time they are all about a bunch of children with no real combat experience throwing their superpowers around with no second thought and that's if they have some kind of powerful quirk. Most of them have quirks with little to no combat application, combined with their lack of fitness and proper regular training, all that I can see is a freak show, a show that only those drawn to violence would enjoy, which seems to be most people nowadays unfortunately.'

Even with the proper announcement of the being of the match most students on the platform stayed still. Normally if it were an one to one match the students would always try to be the ones to take the initiative and try to get the upper hand, but when you have other fifty-nine students sharing the same place with you vying for the same objective… suddenly taking caution seems to be the priority.

Being clearly bothered by the inaction of the other students a blue-haired girl rises to the air by shooting some kind of radio waves and starts shooting randomly at the students below.

'Quite smart of her. She is creating chaos all over the arena so that the students start to panic and make bad decisions and since she can fly using those waves she can also avoid being at the center of it, avoiding everyone and hopefully surviving the entire round. Those waves also seem to be powerful enough to easily lift her into the air, anyone who tries to approach her without a way to bypass the waves pushing force will just be swatted away by her, overhaul even trying to fight her is a poor decision unless they want to impress the pro-heroes agencies, fighting her is a losing game.'

Slightly impressed by the girl's display Artoria continues.'From the agency's perspective, she had no experience with such situation and took action on the fly, which makes her look like a prime candidate for a hero. Even I'm impressed by her performance someone with her powers could easily work in almost any situation an average hero would find themselves in, be it crowd control, fighting, or rescuing she has a decent answer for all.'

"BOOOOMMM"

Suddenly in the middle of the arena, an expanding cloud of dust rises trying to obfuscate everyone's view, but even the thick dust cloud is not enough to hide the fleeing students and hail of swords falling from the sky.

The sudden sword hail didn't stop until the entire center of the arena was covered leaving only the edges of the arena for all the other fifty or so participants. Surprisingly nobody got hurt or empaled by the sword rain and several of the students who couldn't flee in time seemed to be completely stuck in between giant swords, covering their path.

'I suppose that's the Sword Prince. No wonder is said to be the best of this generation. Not only does he have a very flashy quirk that's certainly going to be popular, especially with the boys, but he also has an incredible amount of control and precision with his usage of it. Showering the entire center of the arena and still not hurting anyone is a serious accomplishment on his part.'

"Creak"

"And here it is, Mirio and Tamaki joining hands against the Prince, will we see the Big Three fighting together to bring down the Sword Prince." The narrator screams in excitement.

Right in the middle of the sword graveward three teens could be seen fighting each other shattering and breaking the swords piked in the ground. Just as the many swords fell onto the ground, both of the male members of the Big Three grouped and started attacking with everything they had.

'Hmmm, I think I've underestimated these U.A students quite a bit. This Tamaki guy is pretty capable, his quirk seems to be some kind of animal transformation, and although he seems to be only able to transform his body partially he does just fine, using mollusk shells to bash the and octopus tentacles to grab onto the top of the taller swords as a mean of faster locomotion. Mirio on the other hand… he is flawlessly passing through the many swords with his quirk, that seems to be related to going through objects, it should be incredibly complicated to use his quirk in the middle of all those swords as he would need to activate his quirk and use on several parts of his body at different moments to actually push through the swords and not only that he is also attacking the Sword Prince at the same time. His ability to track these many things at the same time and react to every single one of them is remarkable, the only problem is… he also seems to phase through his own clothes when he uses his quirk.'

'As for the sword Prince, despite being chased everywhere by the two he seems to be completely fine dodging all their attacks and he also seems to be holding back by the lack of counter-attacks on his part.'

"OHHHHHHH, NAKED BOY, NAKED BOY, NAKED BOY OOOAAAHHHH."

"What a bunch of children." Artoria averts her eye from screaming adults.

'After, they don't know why their wives are nagging at them. Screaming naked boy in the middle of the night right in front of the children.'

Artoria also chose not to comment on the fact that Kay was chanting with them.

'But now that I think about it… the Sword Prince looks familiar, have I seen him last year and not remember? But I'm sure I didn't watch it last year.'

Having caught her attention Artoria's focus is completely turned to the student. It also helped that he displayed a good level of swordsmanship.

'He can handle the sword well, definitely above the average. The only problem I can foresee him having with it is the lack of worthy opponents to test the practical aspect of his sword, but I'm sure as a hero he's not interested in the true fundamentals of swordsmanship since his job is to defend people and restrain criminals. It would be really weird if he was actually focused on real sure-to-kill sword techniques.'

Now that her attention is turned to the boy Artoria starts noticing some interesting points.

'He is actually using a shinai to deflect their attacks, despite the animal boy breaking through steel like it was nothing he is being stopped by a wood sword. His stance is very basic but it covers all his options. Does he have some kind of enhancement effect on top of producing swords? Even I wouldn't be able to deflect those blows with technique alone…'

"Something caught your attention Artoria?" As if a spell has been cast Artoria's gaze completely changes and her interest in the fight is erased as Ector asks her.

"No? Not really. I just thought those student's level seemed above the rest." Feigning disinterest, Artoria casually deflects.

"I guess so…" Ector's eyes linger on Artoria's face for a second before redirecting them to the fight." They are indeed above the other students of the same year. In actuality, if we only talk about their fighting skills they are already above most pro-heroes worldwide, not that that is impressive nowadays."

"Not impressive?" Artoria asks genuinely curious.

"Yes. I've been around long enough to notice it, and although there is no official research on it, that I know, I'm pretty sure that the strength of quirks on a biological level has increased as the generations pass, which makes it easier for this generation to surpass the older. Moreover, the meaning of being a hero has been slowly lost to most children these days, they've been too focused on the fighting aspect of the job and highly focusing on that forgetting that their primary role is to save lives."

Hearing Ector's words Artoria thinks for a while before saying.

"Isn't that normal? Most people have a preconceived ideal notion of their dream job until they start to experience it. Most Uni dropouts happen that way or through parents' expectations, besides they are still children it is just natural that they focus on the flashiest aspect of their chosen profession." Furthermore, at least they have an interest in the hero profession. With that much power, they could be doing anything else that would be putting people in danger, it is an actual blessing that these children have decided to become heroes.

"Hahahahaha, I guess you're right maybe I'm just too passionate about heroes." Ector says while laughing.

"Artoria could you help me take these away?" Artoria turns her head to see who called for her and notices aunt Beatrice preparing to take the leftover food and the dishes away to her apartment.

"I'm coming."

*Scene break*

After entering the apartment Artoria looks around and says to herself.

"I guess I have nothing else to do right now." Picking the tv control and turning it on, she selects the proper channel before going to the kitchen.

'I'll have to make breakfast for tomorrow since I'll have to go out early for school.'

"With the performance of the past two years, it really is worthy to say that this generation is thebest generation of U.A. Past year with the Big Three and the Sword Prince and now this year with a compelling performance of the first years, although they haven't shown anything on the level of the previous first years they are well on their way."

"Hmm, that just makes me more excited for tomorrow's third-year performance. They had been completely overshadowed by their juniors last year and I'm sure this time they are going all out to prove themselves." Clinton adds.

Out of nowhere a man suddenly drops of from the sky hitting the ground with extreme speed creating a dust cloud on the lower area of the U.A stadium.

"ALL MIGHT"

"That's crazy All Might just appeared in the middle of the arena." Bill says excitedly completely forgetting his role as the event presenter.

"All Might?" The name caught Artoria's attention. Even her, someone who does not give the hero part of society much attention immediately turns to look over at the screen.

'Even I have to admit that guy is juston another level. Holding the title of first for more than three decades and representing the pinnacle of strength and heroism for just as long is not something easy, furthermore, someone with the entire world's eyes turned to him and he is still able to maintain his image of paragon of justice and peace, that's truly admirable.'

"HAHAHAHA I'M HERE."

The crowd over the stadium goes crazy with All Might's boisterous laugh.

"NOW, YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING WHY THIS GUY SUDDENLY SHOWED UP TOTALLY LIKE A NORMAL PERSON WOULD, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE U.A FESTIVAL?"

THe overwhelming shouts from the crowd makes nothing to stop the momentum from the number one hero as he continues with his words.

"THAT'S BECAUSE I'M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT FROM NEXT FORWARD I GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACHIEVE A LONG-LASTING DREAM OF MINE. I CAN HOPEFULLY CONTINUE THE LEGACY OF THOSE THAT CAME BEFORE AND PASS THE IDEALS THEY AND I SO ADMIRED. AND THAT IS WHY ONCE MORE I'M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE I RECEIVED THE HONOR OF CONTINUING MY LEGACY IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST HERO TEACHING INSTITUTIONS IN THE WORLD."

A triumphant smile emerges from the lips of the number one hero in the world.

"YES YOUR RIGHT. FROM NEXT YEAR AND FORWARD I'M HONORED TO RECEIVE THE TITLE OF TEACHER HERE! THE MIGHTEST! THE GREATEST! AND BIGGETS!

U.A."

The stadium once more goes crazy with deafening shouts all over the place. Even through the television the sheer energy and enthusiasm could be felt at the number one words.

"HAHAHAHA… BUT I'M SURE NONE OF HERE ARE INTERESTED IN THIS OLD MAN CARRIER FUTURE. YES OF COURSE NOT! YOU ARE HERE FOR THE CHAMPIONS!"

All Might take three medals from his back and punches the air with them in his hands creating a glorious image for all to see.

"NOW… SHALL WE START? THE U.A FESTIVAL BRONZE MEDAL GOES TO THE BOY WHO SHOWED US THAT WHAT MATTERS THE MOST IS NOT HOW FLASHY YOUR QUIRK IS OR HOW MUCH DESTRUCTION IT CAN BRING, WHAT MATTERS THE MOST IS THE HEART." All Might pause his speech and bring his thumb pointing at his heart."WITH NOTHING BUT DETERMINATION AND WILL HE SURPASSED ALL HIS CHALLENGES AND GOT HIMSELF TO THE VERY TOP. CAN WE GET SOME NOISE FOR TOGATA MIRIO."

The crowd goes loud as the tall blonde boy walks to the podium with a bright smile not dissimilar to All Might's. As he gets to his position All Might congratulates him and puts the bronze medal on the boy after saying a few words to him.

"OUR SECOND PLACE GAVE US A GLIMPSE OF TRUE VERSATILITY AND AIR DOMINANCE USING HER QUIRK WITH PERFECT PRECISION SHE IS HERE TO REPEAT LAST YEAR'S SHOW AND GO EVEN BEYOND. OF COURSE, THAT'S THE GIRL OF THE YEAR HADO NEJIRE."

With the booming shouts of the stadium, Nejire walks toward All Might with a small smile. Getting on top of the podium she receives the second-place medal with a graceful smile.

"AND NOW THE MOMENT THAT WE ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING! THE CORONATION OF OUR FIRST PLACE. YES, WE ALL KNOW HIM BY NOW, HE, WHO TOOK LAST YEAR'S FESTIVAL BY STORM AND STOOD AS THE UNDISPUTABLE CHAMPION. LET'S GET CHEERS OUT FOR THE TWO-TIME U.A FESTIVAL CHAMPION THE SWORD PRINCE EMIYA SHIROU."

Showered with screams as loud as when All Might first appeared in the arena the redhead boy walks calmly to the podium with an akward expression plastered on his face. Getting to the top of the podium he receives his medal and gives All MIght a polite smile and hand-shake.

"WITH THIS I'M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT ANOTHER U.A FESTIVAL SUCCESSFULLY COME TO AN END ANd we hope y…"

As if the world goes mute Artoria blankly stares at the screen showing a boy awkwardly holding his medal for a group foto, completely unable to comprehend what she sees. A small weak breath comes from her mouth as her pupils dilate, her hands grip the couch, and her face quickly reviews a saddened but strongly hopeful expression. Her head lowers and her beautiful blond hair covers her face shadowing her expression, she whispers weakly as a lonely tear drops from her eye.

"Please…"

*Chapter end*

And that's all for this chapter folks. Quite a big one indeed, pretty much a tenth of everything I ever wrote. As you can see or maybe not if you're seeing this fic first, I'm following the formula of my last fic for this, but as you may also see is that this first chapter is leagues beyond my previous five first chapters, which is quite obvious since now I have over a year of writing experience. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed it.

Now let's give this chapter a small overview. To begin with, I've shown that Artoria has been in this world for almost two decades and completely adapted to it making friends and living her own life, I also have set out several old and new characters such as Ector, Kay and Elise and flushed out their day to day.

Furthermore, I showed Artoria's neutrality to this world culture and its hero society. And ended with a bang revealing Shirou winning the U.A festival.

P.S: I know some of you may be wondering why I introduced so many new characters and an entire school section to this first chapter but trust me, some of these characters are going to come back in future chapters with quite important roles as in the future I do plan in making an U.K arc of sorts. Besides they will be appearing to talk to Artoria with some level of frequency.

With everything said, hope you enjoyed the chapter!