The U.A. Sports Festival is the biggest event in a young hero's life. It pits the students of the school against each other in a series of challenges.

Izuku Midoriya was there in his reporter outfit, he loved the festival with all his heart. It was a major reason he became a journalist, he got a free ticket simply for having a press pass. He also got priority because of his article praising the school after the U.S.J. Incident. He needed this, he was still training every day and most press conferences involved a lot of standing. He needed to sit down for a while. He was so heavy.

It was in a break, the first two events passed and Izuku was having mixed feelings. On one hand, Kaachan was definitely going to win after finishing in the top five twice in a row. On the other, Akatani got first in the race and barely edged a win in the second round. A quirkless student making it so far should be impossible. He needed to eat, he got up and went to a vending machine.

The stadium hosting the festival is used year-round for a variety of other events. This makes it a prime spot for a variety of machines to sell food and drinks. He made it to one that sold katsu sandwiches and bought a pack of three. This will make his mood better.

"Midoriya, is that you?" Oh goddamnit. Akatani was here now. Now he's back to a mixed feeling.

"What are you doing? I thought the contestants got a school meal from Lunch Rush."

"I didn't want to eat too much before my fights. I also heard there was a vending machine for katsu sandwiches. They're my favorite so I just had to have them."

There goes his appetite. "Here, you can have mine. I'm not hungry."

Akatani looked confused but took them. "Thank you. I'll pay you back." He took a bite, he looked so proud of himself as he chewed. Izuku wanted to puke. "I saw you during the cavalry battle, did you see me wave?"

"Sorry, I didn't see you." He was too focused on Kaachan being amazing. It helped him calm down after the disappointment of the first round. He could find a story without Kaachan or Akatani somewhere else.

Akatani seemed to understand. He stopped for a moment before looking at Izuku's face. His eyes widened, and he almost choked on his food. He swallowed and said, "What happened to you? You got a bruise on your face." He pointed at his eye.

Oh, right, he has a bruise around his left eye. It was from the fight with a quirkless guy. It involved a hammer and a lot of smashing. He hit the guy from behind, and the guy turned around and punched him in the face. One thing led to another and the guy was dead in seconds. He may have let his emotions guide him for a moment.

"Oh, this? Don't worry about it."

"No, you're my friend. If you're getting bullied you should tell me."

"It was just a fight." He feigned a smile. "You should see the other guy." If you wouldn't throw up.

Akatani laughed, it was just a joke but he would be horrified if he knew the truth. "Oh yeah, Yaoyorozu and Mineta asked me to have you come over if I saw you. They want to have their interview. The rest of the class also wanted to see you."

"Why's that?" This was good but also terrible. If Kaachan saw him he'd be dead, but more interviews meant more filler articles.

"Yaoyorozu was preparing for the interviews before you left, she was pretty depressed when you left. Mineta was pissed and said he'd beat me up if I didn't get you. And the rest of the class just wanted to say hi." He had to take this opportunity, but he couldn't sound too eager.

"Why would they ask you?"

"I sorta told them about our training." Izuku glared at him. He tried explaining in a frantic voice, "Hey, I didn't have a choice. They kept asking me what I was doing out of school and it just slipped out."

"Fine, Let's get going." He didn't want to be in the crowd anyway.

"You don't have to go."

"I'm going." Izuku started walking. Akatani came as well, leading the way.

"Hey, Midoriya!" He assumed Mineta, the short kid with grapes for hair, was yelling at him with tears in his eyes. "Why didn't you interview me? I could've gotten famous and I would be rolling in babes!" He didn't want to interview him anymore. Not that he hated him, he just didn't want to be near him.

"Wow, I wish I could but I just remember I forgot my notepad." He lied and tried to leave. They were in the class 1-A break room, everyone was watching the pathetic display.

"I can give you one. It also has all the questions you asked everyone else." Then Yaoyorozu showed up, she gave him a pen and notepad. She then whispered to him. "I know he's annoying but I beg you. I need this."

"Alright, I'll interview you both. Let's get started." He took out his pen and notepad.

Mineta took notice. "Hey, I thought you said-"

"Do you want it or not?"

Mineta stopped dead in his tracks. "Yes, I do." He sat down using perfect posture and poise.

Izuku also sat down. "Yaoyorozu, we're doing both of yours at once. We're running low on time." He didn't know if it was true, but he couldn't bother to check.

He conducted both their interviews It went about the same but both of their answers were more stilted because everyone was watching. He could've done them in private but he couldn't care less. When he was done, he closed his notes, they were as vague as ever. "Thanks for your time." He stood up, addressing the rest of the class, but especially Kaachan, who was looking as expressive as ever. "What do the rest of you have to say?"

Ashido raised her hand. "Are you Akatani's missing twin?"

"That's why you wanted me to be up here?" She nodded. "Well, that's a dumb question. We have nothing in common." Except for literally everything, but she looked like the type to believe him. She did.

He sat down. He couldn't believe he went up there for that. Such a monumental waste of time.

"That's not why we asked Akatani to bring you up." Kyoka Jiro, the girl with ear jacks instead of lobes, said. She was completely uninterested in the conversation and focused more on her phone. "We wanted to ask you a question."

"Will you train with us," Denki Kaminari, the orange one, practically screamed in his face. "Akatani always trains on his own and leaves us by ourselves. We thought if we had his new best friend then he'd come around."

He had to say no, making friends with them would just implicate him further in Akatani's future murder. "Alright, I'll train with you." Why was he so stupid? Of course, he wanted more friends and more opportunities to train. But this just complicated things. Why did he talk before he could think? It's a good thing he didn't have a plan because he would've had to rethink the entire thing again.

"Great, give me your phone, I'll put my number in it." Izuku gave it to him.

As Kaminari typed into his phone, Izuku got to thinking. Making friends with these people was a bad idea, for a criminal mastermind. The police are probably looking for a mastermind on par with the Zodiac Killer or Jack the Ripper. They won't suspect him because he's doing something that an impulsive loner would do. This was a genius play, yes, that's why he did it. No other reason is needed.

"I'll make a group chat with all of us after the festival." Kaminari gave his phone back.

At that exact moment, an announcement rang out. "It's time for the last round! Fighters in the first round, please get ready!" Present Mic was back at his post, he should be going back.

"Hey, Midoriya. You want to sit with us?" Akatani put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure they'll let you if we ask nicely."

Aw, he thinks they're friends. This was a perfect opportunity, though. "Alright, I'll go with you."

"You'll need to follow them." He pointed to his classmates as they left. "I'm in the first round." He turned and ran down that hall.

Izuku followed the rest of 1-A to their section. He took out his pencil to note Akatani's loss. He could just get the pictures online.

Author's Note

You might be wondering why I skipped the first two events. No, just me? I'm telling you anyway. It's because it happens basically identically to canon, I didn't want to write all that so I gave a short recap.