Izuku watched as Momo walked out of the stadium, supporting a dazed Kaminari into the tunnel and the hands of a standby medic.

He couldn't help but think of Recovery Girl's absence, had Sandoitsu made a turn for the worst, or had a hero been injured fighting the escaped villains?

"Geez, that was awesome!" Uraraka cheered, throwing her arms up in the air. "Pulling a new super move out when all looked lost, it reminds me of those old All Might comics."

Iida nodded contemplatively. "Indeed, Deputy Class Representative Yaoyorozu's new super move was, to quote you, 'awesome', and intriguing."

Uraraka tilted her head in confusion. "How so?"

"Yaoyorozu created what seemed to be metal armor around her forearm and brachium, which would provide protection, but her physical abilities after doing so increased." Iida paused, seeing Uraraka's blank expression staring back at him. "The armor should have increased her defensive ability at the cost of slowing down her movements, but instead she became faster, stronger."

"Motorised actuators."

Uraraka and Iida turned their heads to look at Izuku, still resting his elbows on the railings.

"Motorised actuators?" Iida repeated, turning the thought over in his head. "That's not possible, at least not yet, my brother's hero suit has cutting edge actuators to boost his combat ability and reduce strain at high speeds, and they are not small enough to be situated in the armor Yaoyorozu created."

"Absolutely, you're right." Izuku looked around at Iida. "Actuators that small, yet powerful, are too complex to build, but not too complex to be designed, the fabrication methods are holding them back."

"Which Yaomomo can totally bypass with her quirk!" Uraraka exclaimed. "That's super cool!"

"Indeed." Iida agreed, with a curt nod. "Although, it does make me wonder why the Deputy Class Representative chose the hero department with a quirk so suited to the creation of support equipment."

Izuku frowned, opening his mouth to speak.

"Our quirks don't define who we are. Who we can choose to be."

The green-haired teen turned his head to look at Uraraka, her eyes staring down at the pads on her fingers.

"We can decide what we use our quirk for, right, Deki?"

"Hm!" Izuku nodded his head, before giving a shy smile. "Right."

"Yeah!" Uraraka cheered, holding her fist out to Izuku.

Izuku started, realising the unspoken invitation, before bumping his own fist against Uraraka's.

A stabbing pain shot through Izuku's temple as he felt a new quirk appear inside Quirksmith, forcing another out into the main quirkspace.

"You okay, Deki?"

Izuku blinked, opening his eyes to see Uraraka and Iida looking back at him with concern.

"I'm fine, I just pulled a muscle in my last match, that's all." Izuku answered, before adding. "Actually, I'd better be heading off, my next match will be starting soon."

Uraraka paused for a few seconds, before nodding. "Right, good luck, break a leg!"

Iida murmured in agreement, his look of concern not fading.

Izuku gave his best attempt at a smile. "Thanks!"

With Izuku dashed off, as fast as he could, making a beeline for the bathroom close to the ready rooms.

Slamming the door open, Izuku checked to make sure he was alone, before dropping into his quirkspace.

There it was, a copy of Uraraka's quirk, an impossible copy of Zero Gravity.

"That's not possible."

"It wasn't possible."

Izuku started, turned to find a man with shaggy hair and a jagged scar across his face.

"Another vestige."

"I'm Four." The man stated, his tone calm and relaxed, in stark contrast to his body language. It was coiled and tense, like he was on edge, prepared to defend himself at a moment's notice.

"Who was the vestige I spoke to earlier, who granted Todoroki access to One For All?" Izuku asked warily.

"That was Six." Four answered in a soothing tone.

Izuku looked at Four closer, he was older than any other vestige he'd seen, somewhere in his mid-forties if he had to guess. That was in vast contrast to the others, both Five and Seven appeared to be in their late thirties, while Six looked closer to his late twenties.

"You said it's possible now, what's changed?" Izuku questioned, his eyes not leaving Four.

"Can't you feel it?" Four queried in response. "How much One For All's power has grown, and how quickly."

"That's why I'm getting nosebleeds."

"Indeed." Four nodded his head. "One For All's power has grown, and so its amplification effect on Quirksmith has also grown, hence why you can copy a quirk you already have again."

"And the more I copy quirks, the more One For All's power grows." Izuku realised.

Four made a noise of agreement. "That it is the exponential nature of One For All."

"The nosebleeds?"

"One For All's power is placing an immense strain on your body." Four frowned. "It is because of Quirksmith."

Izuku looked confused. "Quirksmith? How?"

"Apart from All Might, I have possessed One For All the longest, I cultivated its power for eighteen years." Four paused. "And in the end it, not All For One, killed me. I died of natural causes, aged forty."

"But All Might's had it longer, he's older than that."

"All Might was quirkless when he received One For All." Four explained. "It is a second quirk that causes the stress."

"Quirksmith."

"Exactly." Four paused. "Except, not quite."

Izuku looked up, brows knitted as he stared at Four.

"If you truly had a natural quirk of your own, then you would have died the instant you held 180 percent of One For All's power during the USJ assault." Four continued. "No, whatever happened to Quirksmith when you were a child, it wasn't altered or limited, it was destroyed, or denatured as you call it."

Izuku's mind reeled, he had been quirkless after all.

Four spoke again. "When All Might gave you One For All your body was flooded with its power-"

"One For All repaired Quirksmith."

Four nodded. "Closer to reforged, all the denatured DNA existed, but its essence, the soul of a quirk, was long gone, that is what One For All provided.

Izuku turned, looking to where One For All and Quirksmith floated side by side, no sign of the bond they shared. However, slowly, Izuku saw it.

Every quirk orb in Izuku's quirkspace pulsed with a unique pattern and luminosity, like a heartbeat, except One For All and Quirksmith. They pulsed in time with each other, neither shining brighter than the other.

"It's not Quirksmith's existence that's overstraining my body, is it?" Izuku turned back to Four. "It's the quirks I copy."

Four nodded solemnly. "It is. You have a choice, Midoriya, pass on One For All to a suitable quirkless successor, something you'll be hard-pressed to find in this day and age, or destroy Quirksmith and all the quirks you've copied."

Izuku shook his head. "I can't, if I give away One For All then Quirksmith will lose its power, it'll fade away, along with the quirks I've copied and if I destroy Quirksmith and the quirk I've copied I'll break my bones every time I use One For All."

Four nodded solemnly. "Those appear to be your options, if you continue on at this rate, I doubt your body will last longer than a few more months."

Izuku's mind reeled, barely able to process the idea of how little time he had.

"What about One For All's power?" Izuku asked hopefully. "I could denature all my copied quirks and then restore them with One For All, like with Quirksmith."

"Midoriya, One For All reforging Quirksmith was a fluke, a one in a million chance." Four explained. "It isn't possible."

Izuku's mouth opened to argue his point when he suddenly felt himself being pushed back to reality, not by his own power, but by One For All's.

Blinking rapidly, Izuku found himself staring at the mirror, with a face looking back at him.

Except it wasn't his own.

"Hi, I'm Lemillion."

Izuku screamed.

Mineta paced back and forth, not far from the door to the 1-A locker room, limbs filled with fearful, nervous energy.

The door opened, causing the purple teen to look up.

Tsuyu walked out of the 1-A locker room, freezing at the sight of Mineta.

"Don't bother, kero."

Tsuyu turned, walking away from Mineta.

"I'm sorry."

A sigh escaped from Tsuyu's lips as she stopped dead. "Why, Mineta? Why did you do that? I thought we were past that."

Mineta's mouth, ready to reply.

But nothing would come out.

Hand clawing throat, Mineta desperately tried to speak, to tell Tsuyu about Mother's threats, that she would manage to regain custody of the purple teen.

"You really were just doing it because you wanted to, weren't you?" Tsuyu stated, unable to see the distress behind her. "I thought so. I'm done, Mineta."

Tsuyu walked away sadly, not looking back, leaving Mineta standing alone, desperately trying to call after her.

"That won't work, Piglet."

Mineta froze, entire being flooded with fear.

"I can't have you telling anyone about that."

Utsuro Botai walked around Mineta and stopped, smirking from ear to ear.

"Mother." Mineta spoke through gritted teeth. "Why couldn't I speak? Why couldn't I-"

"Why couldn't you tell that disgusting mutant that your loathsome, evil mother was going to whisk you away?" Utsuro grinned. "I thought it would be fun. For me of course."

Mineta started to back away slowly.

Utsuro rolled her eyes. "Must we go through this every time? A little birdie told me you were going to Stop ."

In an instant Mineta's entire body locked up, stopping dead.

"There we are." Utsuro rolled. "So dramatic. As usual, such a girl."

Mineta flinched.

"Now, here we are, alone at last, no distractions." Utsuro's lips morphed into a predatory smile. "It's time to come home, Piglet. This has gone on long enough."

"N-No." Mineta grunted, fighting through a locked jaw.

Utsuro's nostrils flared dangerously. "Minoru, I grow bored of this dance, we both know how it will end, we actually, you don't remember."

Mineta's eyes widened.

"A little birdie told me that you're going to come home with me, you're going to be happy about it, and you'll forget all about this and my quirk. " Utsuro's eyes flashed a sickly purple.

Mineta's struggles ceased immediately, freed from Utsuro's verbal bindings.

"Mom?" Mineta questioned, frowning. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, my boss sent me with some paperwork for the Sports Festival." Utsuro smiled warmly, hugging Mineta. "I'm so proud of you, you were such a cute little man out there."

Mineta ignored a strange feeling, radiating from the purple teen's stomach, like that moment just after danger passed. "Sure, I want to come home, now."

Utsuro smiled and nodded. "Let's go home then."

Silence fell as mother and child walked away.

Hitoshi Shinso slowly opened the 1-C locker room door, trying to process what he'd just seen.

Utsuro Botai, the HPSC Director for Sports and Recreation, was the mother of that purple 1-A student, and she was using her quirk to control him, without him even knowing.

Hitoshi felt sick to his stomach.

He had to tell someone.

"Hey, Mikumo, guess what?" Toru called as she slammed the door to the 1-H Lab open excitedly.

The SHTR suit stood in the center of the lab, half its panels removed, waiting for new, undamaged ones to replace them. Loose wire stuck out in every direction, stripped and ready to be soldered down again.

But no sign of Mikumo or Hatsume.

Toru frowned, there was no chance Mikumo wouldn't be working on his suit when it still needed this much repairing so close to his next fight.

"Mikumo? Hatsume? Are you guys here?" Toru walked forwards, glancing around. "Did they leave to get some replacement components? Mikumo, are you here?"

But then again, getting a new part from stores wouldn't take both of them, and Toru couldn't see Mikumo just leaving his suit unattended like this.

"Hello?"

Toru rounded the corner of one of the workstations.

The sight of Hatsume splayed out, blood seeping from a cut across her forehead, greeted her.

"Oh shit!"

Dropping to her knees, Toru quickly felt for a pulse, a shot of relief washing over her as she did.

"Help! Someone, get help!" Toru called, pushing Hatsume in the recovery position, unwilling to leave her alone. "Mikumo? Anyone?"

Hand suddenly gripped neck from behind, lifting her into the air, feet dangling uselessly.

"Hello, little Hagakure."

Toru froze, a small whimper leaving her lips, she recognised that dark, rasping voice.

The voice of All For One.

"I think it's time you had a short nap, child." All For One spoke. "I have an important task to complete today, I can have you interfering."

Toru felt her eyelids drooping, her limbs growing heavy as she hit the floor, released from the grip of All For One.

"Come, my son, the evolution of our power awaits."

Footsteps sounded, moving away from Toru, leaving the lab entirely.

Groaned, unable to move her limbs, Toru forced her eyes to open, desperately trying to fight off the effect of whatever quirk All For One used on her.

She had fallen facing away from Hatsume, pointed under one of the workstations.

Through the small space between the floor and the bottom of the workstation Toru saw him.

Mikumo.

A large bruise covered one side of his face, his eye swollen shut and blood soaking the collar of his gym jacket.

"Mikumo." Toru spoke, her voice slurred, barely louder than a whisper. "Miku-"

The quirk's effect intensified, Toru's eyelids fell shut and she slipped into unconsciousness.

"I'm so sorry!" Izuku bowed deep, nearly losing his balance.

The blonde teen, dressed in a white and red hero costume, laughed slightly. "It's okay, really, I shouldn't have surprised you like that while you were meditating."

Izuku glanced at the shattered mirror, the impact site of one of Slingshot's telekinetic blasts. "N-No, using my quirk like that, wait, you're Lemillion, aren't you, you placed second in the second year Sport Festival last year after coming dead last in your first year, n-not that I'm insulting you or-"

Lemillion nodded. "Right you are, but call me Mirio, I'm not a hero yet, just your upperclassman."

"I'm Izuku Midoriya, Class 1-A." Izuku offered, still embarrassed. "I watched all your fights from the Sports Festival, I was researching heroes who managed to improve their control of their quirks in a short space of time, I'm not some sort of weirdo or-"

Mirio barked out a deep laugh, interrupting Izuku. "It's okay Midoriya, I did the exact same thing after my first Sports Festival, man, that was embarrassing, lost control of my quirk and fell underground, came back up in one of the food stalls absolutely naked. I'll never look at takoyaki the same again."

Izuku frowned, not exactly sure how to reply to what Mirio had said, acutely aware his fear that he'd be seen as weird were unfounded.

Mirio was weird, in a charming sort of way. Izuku could see why he was so popular.

"Anyway, right, I was sent to find you!" Mirio realised. "Your next match is pretty soon so Midnight told me to tell you that you need to head to Ready Room Beta."

"R-Right, thank you." Izuku bowed slightly in thanks.

"Awesome!" Mirio cheered, giving Izuku a thumbs up in response. "Good luck for your match."

"Thank you."

Mirio smiled. "Right, I've made myself hungry now, think I'll get some takoyaki from the food court."

You shouldn't.

"Why's that?"

Izuku blushed, realising he'd spoken aloud. "I-It just wasn't very good, and pretty expensive."

"Cool, thanks then!" Mirio smiled, before slowly sinking through the floor. "Maybe I'll try one of the american food carts, I think I saw Nighteye at one earlier, maybe he used his quirk to make sure it wouldn't give him food poisoning."

Izuku stood in silence, staring at the patch of floor Mirio had left through.

That was weird.

"Tell me about it." A voice from inside one of the cubicles called.

Izuku blushed again, rushing out of the toilets, heading towards the stairs down, to where his fight with Todoroki awaited him.

He felt oddly calm, detached from it, like he hadn't quite processed the fact it was going to happen.

For now he just had to put the ticking time bomb that was his body to the back of his mind until the Sports Festival. Then he would tell All Might about it.

And Momo. He was going to tell her about it, and One For All, it was a secret he didn't want to, couldn't, keep from her.

"Hey, Izuku!"

The green-haired teen jumped half-a-foot into the air with a strangled cry.

Turning, the green-haired teen saw Momo coming towards him, in the direction from the 1-A viewing box, stifling a giggle at his reaction.

"You startled me." Izuku said, as Momo came to halt in front of him.

Momo smiled. "I'll have to be careful not to do it when you're using that enhancer quirk of yours, you might end up hitting the International Space Station."

Izuku smiled, unable to stop himself from doing so at the sight of Momo's own.

Momo started to walk down the stairs, Izuku falling in step alongside her. "I actually wanted to talk to you about earlier, before Shoto interrupted us, Uraraka said you left, I wanted to catch you before your match."

Izuku felt his face heat up. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Izuku, it's okay, I like you, I really like you. Nothing about that has changed." Momo assured, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. "I actually wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out on date, not that it has to be a date, it could be a friend thing, until we-"

"I'd like that." Izuku spoke, the words leaving mouth, plain and resolute, a far cry for his usual anxiety. "It's a date."

Momo smiled, glancing across at the green-haired teen.

"Great." Momo blushed slightly. "Uraraka and Iida said you spent a long time with Recovery Girl."

Izuke paused, before nodding. "She insisted on checking me over twice, she's somehow convinced I'm going to break every bone of my body at the same time against Todoroki."

"Didn't that happen during the USJ attack?"

Izuku shrugged. "Not technically, Hyper Regeneration healed the bones after they were broken, so they weren't all broken at the same time."

"I think that you think that sounds comforting, it isn't." Momo looked slightly uneasy. "Perhaps try to break fewer bones against Todoroki?"

"I make no promises." Izuku replied. "There was a patient I helped Recovery Girl look after, I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but I don't want to lie, not to you."

Momo nodded, a warm feeling in her chest at how much Izuku cared for and trusted her. "How bad was it? If it's okay for me to ask, I notice Recovery Girl was missing earlier, when I took Kaminari to be seen."

"Bad." Izuku answered simply. "There's something else I want to tell you about my quirk, after the Sport Festival."

"Sure, okay, you can tell me anything." Momo nodded. "My lips are sealed."

Momo mimed zipping her lips shut, before throwing the imagined key away.

Warmth filled Izuku, just for a moment it washed everything else away, every doubt, every worry, every concern.

Just for a second, Izuku just was, basking in that feeling.

Lurching forwards, Izuku hugged Momo.

I think I love you.

Momo hugged him back, just as tightly.

A full minute passed, neither willing or wanting to break apart, but eventually they did, both looking into the others eyes.

Leaning forwards, Momo pressed her lips to Izuku's cheek.

"Good luck." Momo smiled. "I'll be cheering for you."

Izuku only just managed to stop himself from touching where Momo's lips had been, his cheeks burning.

"T-Thanks."

Momo giggled. "Now, go, you need to be there for your match, you don't want it to start without you, do you?"

"Right." Izuku nodded. "I'll see you later, then."

"Don't break a leg."

Izuku laughed. "Thank you."

Turning, Izuku walked away, and into the ready room, with one last glance back at Momo.

Momo watched the door close, unable to keep the silly grin off her face.

She really was glad for Izuku's habit of saying his thoughts out loud.

Izuku took a steadying, calming breath, readying himself for his fight against Todoroki.

It still doesn't feel real.

Sitting down at the metal table, Izuku stared into its reflective surface.

This choice, I'm not sure I can make it. How do I decide between my own quirk, or the quirk I was entrusted with?

Izuku sighed, rubbed his cheek with his hand with one, frustrated movement.

Something caught Izuku's eye, in the reflection on the table below.

A face he recognised.

Suddenly, Izuku was choking, black ooze pouring up his throat and out his mouth, the foul taste assaulting him.

Izuku was back in that alley in an instant, choking to death at the hands of the sludge villain, all alone. Reaching up, Izuku tried to grip the ooze, but his hands sliding straight threw it, the lack of resistance reminding him of where he was.

The Sports Festival.

Summoning One For All, Izuku buried his hand in the ooze, and clicked his fingers. Ooze flew in every direction, hitting every splattering on every surface.

Izuku dropped to his knees, gasping for breath as he watched the ooze carve gouges out of the floors, walls and the table, before dissipating into nothingness.

Some kind of destruction quirk, it destroys what it encases.

"Not quite, it's teleportation."

Izuku froze.

He knew that voice. His father's voice, Izuku hadn't even known he still knew what it sounded like until just then.

But it lacked the warmth Izuku remembered.

It chilled him to his core.

Standing shakily, Izuku turned, seeing his assailant passively looking back at him, clearly bored, and behind him was Izuku's father, looking almost exactly as he did in Izuku's memories.

Except, his hair, it was stark white, instead of black.

All For One smiled, baring his teeth like a shark, and pushed off the wall, walking towards him.

"Hello, my son." All For One greeted.

Izuku immediately saw it.

All For One's words were ever so slightly out of sync with his mouth.

He wasn't really there, he was projecting himself.

"Ichigata, deal with your brother." All For One stated.

Izuku's assailant shot forwards with blinding speed, grabbing Izuku by his throat and slamming him down on the ruined table.

"W-Why?" Izuku gasped. "Why are you doing this?"

His assailant smirked. "I was made for this, my destiny is to rise above my siblings, I'll crush them under my boot if I have to."

"Mi-Mikumo." Izuku choked, desperately trying to free himself from Ichigata's grip.

"I've dealt with that hollow waste of flesh already." Ichigata smirked. "Don't worry, that quirkless's not dead, not this time. He wasn't my target, hurting him, that was just a perk of the job."

Izuku's face crumbled in concentration, summoning One For All and Electrification in his arm as he drove his fist into Ichigata's stomach.

It was like hitting a brick wall, Izuku felt something in his hand break.

But no healing came.

Ichigata smirked, angling their face up, revealing glowing red eyes, hair floating around his head.

It was Aizawa's quirk.

"Like I said, I was created to defeat you." Ichigata released Izuku and took a step back. "Now, this should work this time."

Black ooze once again flowed from Izuku's mouth, this time he didn't have his quirk to save.

In a few short seconds the ooze encapsulated Izuku and faded away with a few final wisps of black smoke.

Ichigata released Erasure and took a step back, brushing off their UA gym uniform. "I can't say I didn't enjoy that, he's been irritating me for weeks."

"Excellent work as always, Ichigata." All For One smiled. "Resume your cover for now, your time to step out into the sun will come soon."

"Of course, Father."

Momo continued her journey back towards the 1-A viewing box, occasionally catching glimpses of the stadium floor from the windows she passed.

A door opened, grabbing her attention.

The girl Izuku and Shoto had fought, Reimitsu, hurried out of the bathroom, nervously rubbing her hands on her gym jacket as she did.

Reimitsu started upon seeing Momo looking, immediately rushing off in the opposite direction.

Momo frowned.

Weird.

Renn Takarakuji smoothed his clothes as strolled down the corridor, before running his hand through his messy hair, flattening it.

Hagane, from 1-D, stood at the window, staring intently down at the battle platform.

"Dude, there's something on your jacket." Renn offered, flashing an easy going smile.

Hagane looked down, finding a dark stain on his collar. "Thanks."

Nodding in reply, Renn continued past.

"You're Takarakuji, aren't you?" Hagane questioned. "The one with big feet quirk."

Renn turned back while keeping walking. "It's a bit more than that, my quirk is random, different one everyday."

Hagane's face changed. "That sounds like an interesting quirk."

"Oh, it is."

"What do you mean they're gone?" Naomasa asked, phone to his ear.

Toshinori frowned, looking down at his friend.

The hero and the detective stood at the side of the road as the last of the convicts were loaded into a police van.

"How do three teens under quirk-neutralising lamps just vanish from their cells?" Naomasa's voice raised ever so slightly above normal.

That was a tone Toshinori rarely heard, Naomasa was livid.

"Do you at least know where Sandoitsu is?" Naomasa questioned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You didn't think to check? Yes, of course you should check now!"

Toshinori waved off the police van, leaving him and Naomasa alone apart from a few junior officers securing the crime scene.

"She's gone too!" Naomasa repressed the urge to shout. "What do you mean 'should you lock U.A. down?' That's the first thing you should have done!"

"It's the Trigger kids, isn't it?" Toshinori queried.

Naomasa nodded, before turning his attention back to his phone. "Lock the whole site. Yes, of course you should inform Nedzu, and have someone find and secure Mikumo Akatani, one of those kids has already tried seriously maiming him already."

Jabbing the screen a little harder than needed, Naomasa ended the call, turning to Toshinori.

"They've somehow got out of their cells, no sign of them yet." Naomasa explained.

Toshinori nodded, calling on One For All and squatting down. "I'll head on ahead."

"Stay connected." Naomasa instructed. "This is another prisoner retrieval."

"I will."

With that All Might rocked into the sky, towards U.A.

With a groan, Mikumo slowly drifted back to consciousness, opening his eyes to complete blurriness, he couldn't see a thing.

Feeling around himself, ignoring the aches and burning pains littering his body, Mikumo found his glasses, and of course they'd been crushed.

Reaching out, Mikumo grabbed his workstation, pulling himself up and grabbing where he knew he'd left his contact lens case. Opening it up, Mikumo dropped them into and blinked rapidly, his eyes adjusting.

To see a brown haired girl sprawled out on the floor, near a slowly-recovering Hatsume.

Mikumo recognised her.

"Toru!"

Dashing around his workstation as fast as his ailing body would let him, Mikumo dropped down, immediately feeling for a pulse, sighing in relief as he found one.

"Toru?! Can you hear me?"

"She won't wake." Hatsume explained groggily. "I tried."

"Toru?" Mikumo lifted her up slightly. "Toru, wake up. Please wake up!"

A few long, tortuous seconds passed before Toru's eyes fluttered open.

Mikumo released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.

"Ta-da, surprise." Toru said weakly, barely conscious.

~"It's timeeee! The fated battle between Ice Cold Monarch and Indomitable Lean Mean Green Bean! It's Todoroki vs. Midoriya!"~

Shouts echoed around the stadium, largely split equally between the two heroes-in-training.

~"From the freezing cold blue tunnel, it's Todoroki!"~

Shoto calmly walked out into the stadium and up onto the battle platform, never looking up at the crowd.

He knew whose eyes would be burning into him.

Endeavor.

~"And from the wild and weird red tunnel, it's Izuku Midoriya!"~

Shoto raised his eyes to get a look at his opponent.

But he wasn't there.

The red tunnel was empty.

~"Midoriya, ya got stage fright? It's ya time to shine, kid."~

Still, nothing.

~"Something isn't right."~

It was Aizawa's voice, followed by the sound of rustling cloth and the hurried slamming of a door.

Shoto frowned.

His blood ran cold.

Aizawa was correct, something wasn't right.