The wait til the Sports Festival was both slow and fast. Two weeks flew by before Katsuki realized, but at the same time, each one of those days was agonizingly dull. Even during heroics classes he didn't quite feel like he was in his element. Maybe it felt like that now he was more aware of it.
While he had recovered from his last conversation with Izuku, Katsuki now understood that he had a problem he didn't know how to fix. Progress in his combat ability didn't feel like a good way to solve it considering how he couldn't silence the thought that it never would be enough to beat someone with a Quirk suited for combat, like the nerd's. Victories in classes were a nice temporary solution that dulled that feeling, however, it didn't feel significant enough.
And maybe that was the issue. He hadn't done anything significant. Looking at the nerd's class, they were another thing altogether. Been taught by All Might, fought against villains, already became sort of micro-celebrities. Meanwhile, at 1-B? They could claim they attended U.A. That's it.
Show them that you are something, instead of trying to prove you aren't nothing.
Izuku's words still hadn't fully left him, and he knew that no matter how much he might have hated it, the nerd was fully right.
That was why he was so eager for today. Getting far into the Sports Festival was going to be his ticket out of this emotional low he's been in, a chance to show himself. However, it would have to be done properly. That's why as soon as the teacher left the waiting room they were supposed to stay in until the start of the festival, he left and headed to 1-A's waiting room.
"Kacchan?" Izuku asked as his childhood friend opened the door.
"Bakugou!" Tenya said while pointing at the 1-B student with heavily exaggerated motions "This is not your waiting room! You have to follow protocol and stay there until we have to enter!"
"Nerd," Katsuki decided to ignore the guy, "I'll be direct. I know how you are, so I'm asking this as your friend, hell, I'll even promise to give you that debut figure if it convinces you to do it…"
That piqued said nerd's curiosity, he remained quiet, just waiting to hear what this request would be. So was the rest of his class, an intruder to their little preparation period coming here only to ask for something prompted many to just listen.
"Go all out. Don't hold back at any point. Not for me, nor for anyone."
"Hey, hey," another student, a blond with a lightning bolt pattern on his hair, started talking. "I don't know how much you know about how Midoriya fights, but I don't really think he does that. You don't get to be at the very least top two in our class by holding back."
Katsuki turned to him, "Top two…?"
"Yeah, it's kinda up in the air whether it's him or Todoroki."
"Ahem," Izuku interrupted this before it could derail. "I just have one question, why do you want me to do that?"
"Because the same way you know about what I think, I know what you're thinking right now. Since heroes are scouting this, you want to at least give a chance for everyone to be in the spotlight." Katsuki waited, and smirked when his friend had no response other than to sigh. "I'll know if you hold back, and this whole thing won't feel right if you do."
Izuku didn't look enthused by the proposal, frowning while looking to the side. It was hard to get him to change his opinion when he thought he was doing something beneficial for others. Katsuki knew this, so he approached the nerd just to whisper.
"I need to see how far I can get on this, properly. When everyone is going all out."
Just like that, his expression changed almost instantly, with a smile the freckled teen said, "You'll have to bring that figure here when we get back to classes."
At that, the Quirkless boy nodded and left.
"Wait, Midoriya, were you seriously going to hold back for the sake of us…?" Denki asked once their visitor was out of sight.
"I was planning on it if my Quirk would normally allow me to get you out of the competition, like the finals. It always is a fighting tournament that has the possibility of elimination by ring out." He then gestured with an open palm to the electric user. "Do you think you'd be able to do anything if I simply pushed you off the stage? I'd just try to find another way to win, even if it's more complicated."
"I… don't know how to feel about that, man. I get where you're coming from, but that's a bit discouraging."
"I say that you should never hold back in a competition!" Eijirou said, punching his fists together. "Here's where we're gonna show everyone what we're made out of! Not just how we fight, but how we face impossible odds!"
"Yeah!" Mina joined him. "It's very kind of you, Prez, but we're gonna go all out and we're not gonna tolerate you not doing the same!"
"But, I already said-" Izuku tried to reel the situation back.
"That's right!" Ochako interrupted, and surprisingly was on top of a table, fist in the air, "I'm pumped now! We'll show everyone just what we mean. To the top! To the top!"
They were soon joined by the other half of the class who started to be part of a small preparation chant.
The president just smiled, he'd let them be, no reason to make them feel silly now.
"Midoriya," Shouto said, low enough so that he could be heard. "Do you really believe you have the luxury of holding back here?"
"I won't do it."
"I know, but you really believed that you'd still win this despite it." It was said with a tint of annoyance. "Would you have held back against me?"
"...Would you?"
"Excuse me?"
"C'mon, we both know that you're not using everything you have, not even against villains." Izuku was looking him in the eyes, calmly, as opposed to Shouto's glare. "Look, I don't know your reasons. Maybe you have a good one. but if you're insulted by what I could have done, then I suggest you start apologizing to those you've defeated using only your ice."
The glare didn't subside. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"I don't, and I feel like you're not going to tell me right now." The green haired boy smiled. "Am I wrong?"
Shouto merely turned away and went to a more secluded corner. Izuku in the meantime, stared at the back of the other boy's head, an idea already starting to brew.
Everyone going all out, eh? I can arrange that.
"Welcome one and all!" Present Mic's voice reverberated across the stadium, "To U.A's Sports Festival! The only event where you'll get to see the hatchlings of the next generation duke it out in a fierce competition to show you what they're made out of!"
Meanwhile, in the entrance to the field, where said hatchlings were waiting for the signal to make their appearance, many were bouncing on their feet, breathing deeply or doing things to ease their nerves, no matter how many time to prepare they had beforehand, most of them would never quite feel ready to be the focus of thousands of people.
"But of course, I know what many of you are here in the freshman stage for! To see the miraculous rising stars that were able to fend off a villain attack with their trademark heroic spirit! It's class 1-A."
At that, said class stepped forward, and they all could hear the cheers of the crowd from down there.
"Wait for it." Neito said with a knowing smile.
"Following is class 1-B!"
They began to step forward.
"From general studies: class 1-C, 1-D, and 1-E!" Present Mic kept introducing the class, with barely any pause between them.
"Seriously? No fanfare or introduction or anything?" Yosetsu Awase complained whilst stepping into their designated area. "That's real shitty, man."
"Why are you even surprised? We knew this was gonna happen," Setsuna Tokage said with a shrug, "Kinda the whole reason we're banking on this plan to work. Well, most of us." She blatantly stared at Ibara, Katsuki and Tetsutetsu.
"I did tell you how I had no interest in your nefarious schemes."
"I'm competing. Don't drag me into this because you don't believe you'll make it far without it." Hypocrite.
"That's right! It's all in or nothing!" The steel user said with pride.
"Didn't you say at first that you didn't want to do it because you're not that good with plans?" The lizard girl pointed out with a smirk.
"Shut up! The principle of it still stands!"
"Alright, everyone, be good and behave for a little while!" Midnight announced happily, atop a platform in the middle of the field, a microphone in front of her and a whip in hand. "You'll get your chance to cut loose once the events begin!"
Her mere appearance got cheers from the crowd, plenty being fans of the R-Rated heroine and happy that she was overseeing the event.
"Now, before we start the games, we need our player rep to start us off! Midoriya Izuku!"
Said boy subtly flinched, not expecting to be addressed so suddenly. Nevertheless, after breathing deeply once, he started approaching the stage.
"I do suppose that if 1-A is the protagonist of this event, they'd have their class president do the talking." Neito shook his head. "The favoritism it's not even subtle."
"I think it's because the nerd placed first on the entrance exam." Katsuki said, without even thinking much of it. "One hundred and twenty points total."
"Wait, seriously!?" Tetsutetsu was now looking more excited. "Holy shit, I really want to see if I can fight him now!"
"Still," A nearby student from the general course cut in, unimpressed, "That's only the heroics exam they're looking at."
"So? That's the only physical test they made us do." Itsuka retorted, arms crossed, "Are you telling me you want the Sports Festival's rep to be someone who did well on the written exam?"
"Ahem." Izuku's voice cut the discussion before it could escalate.
They all turned their attention towards the player rep, microphone in hand. He was looking nervous, Izuku never did handle that much attention to himself that well, but, still, his eyes were steady.
"First, something I'd like to say to everyone who came here." He looked at the audience, "This is going to be a glimpse of what tomorrow brings, you won't be disappointed, and you'll be wishing for the future to get here sooner."
He took a deep breath and then turned to look at the rest of the competitors with a relaxed smile. "As for my opponents… Bring your all, I want all of us to say this to everyone with our performance:
We're here!"
With that, he handed the microphone back to Midnight, walking back down to the crowd, his classmates greeting him with smiles and some wrapping their arms over the young man's shoulders.
"This… might be bad for us." Neito stopped looking smug. "I wasn't expecting him to broaden the spotlight."
"Huh? What does you mean?" Pony said, not quite understanding the whole situation thanks to the language barrier.
"The nerd put eyes on all of us," Katsuki said with a smirk, he almost could laugh. "Sure, his class was the main character before, but he just said to the audience that they have to pay attention to everyone. You said something about how your plan was to lay low and scout 1-A? Well, do that, and everyone is going to notice how you're not really competing here."
Now their plan came at the cost of possible reputation loss, and when the purpose of the plan in the first place was to try to upstage 1-A, it suddenly might look a lot less appealing.
"Take this as a sign of providence." Ibara said to the rest of the class, hands in prayer. "A wrench in your schemes right before they can come to fruition. You should reconsider your path before you're too deep in it."
The nerd probably didn't do that for my sake, it was always his plan to not hog all of the spotlight. He's like that.
Meanwhile, Izuku was doing his best to cover himself from view, putting his hands in front of his face. "Earth, swallow me."
"C'mon, prez, you were awesome!" Denki tried to cheer him up. "I kinda feel like I have to do great there, not just because I want to!"
"Yeah, man, I think you pumped everyone up!" Eijirou grinned, "That thing about saying we're here is "
"It's just embarrassing, you know? So many people saw me! I didn't stutter, did I? Also, a glimpse of the future!?" The freckled teen shuddered. "I shouldn't have said something like that…"
"Hold on, hold on, let me through," Kyouka pushed through her classmates to get direct access to her friend…
…only to stab him in the chest with her jack.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You were really cool up there," she smiled, ignoring the question. "You inspired me, at least. So don't bring yourself down that much, you dork."
He just quietly stared into her eyes. Suddenly he didn't feel as if he had made a fool out of himself.
A crack of a whip got their attention once again, as they saw Midnight waiting for a screen to stop alternating between names of events.
"Now, now, children, wouldn't want to lose on what your preliminary event is going to be! After all, this is where we're going to cut the bulk off you from the competition!" She licked her lips, "I'm so eager to see you fight for a spot."
Creepy.
The screen slowed down until it showed what would be the first event of the festival.
The Obstacle Course.
As the R-Rated Heroine explained, it was a four kilometer race around the stadium, obviously with challenges to impede their progress, but the thing that caught Katsuki's attention was the bit of how "everything goes as long as you stay within the course, get out of it, and you're disqualified!"
Everyone gathered at the starting line, and immediately saw the narrow gate, the first obstacle.
Katsuki cracked his knuckles, and kneeled down slightly, waiting for the signal. He scanned through the multitude of other students, figuring out what his most likely path would be.
"Start!" Midnight announced.
And everyone began to move. Many had the idea to start running. The Quirkless didn't. He started with a jump.
While the majority was starting to get stuck between one another on the gate, Katsuki had a much less populated "ground", though it was far from even. Their heads. It wasn't going to earn him a good reputation, but he didn't really mind at this point. As he advanced, he saw a guy being lifted off from the masses, almost as if people were giving him a seat above them.
Hitoshi Shinsou.
Both of them saw one another, and each of them glared, before they paid attention forward. The ground was covered in ice, with Shouto taking the lead and freezing the legs of those behind him.
So, I got saved by this stupid strategy. Go figure.
Up ahead, the ice wielder looked ahead with an aloof expression, hearing the sound of his classmates approaching him. Many making some sort of promise of payback to him. Not that it mattered.
He almost considered freezing Minoru when he was very much telegraphing a special move, before he got punched in the… everything, by a robotic fist.
"Look, it seems they've already stumbled into the very first obstacle!" Present Mic's commentary flared through. "I wonder if the hero class missed them! Say hello to Robopocalypse!"
By that, the hero meant an army of robots, all of them from the exam, and composed mainly of the gigantic Zero Pointers, acting as a wall covering the way forward.
They should start using harder obstacles. I have to show the old man that I have no need to use his fire.
Simply commanding his ice to freeze enough of the robots to allow him to keep running forward. Some of his competitors mistakenly celebrated this, thinking that he cleared a path for them.
"I wouldn't move forward if I were you," he had the courtesy to warn them, not looking behind, "I froze them precariously, they're gonna fa-"
He stopped in the middle of his sentence, as he noticed that an enormous shadow was looming over him, he glanced back, to see one of the same robots he froze falling right towards him. Eyes widening, he stopped in his tracks and created an ice ramp to intercept it and redirect the metallic colossus' fall. Unlike the other robots, it crashed dangerously close to his left, a cloud of dust and rubble rising up from the impact zone, the ground shook beneath him and he was momentarily blinded by the dust.
How…? It should have fallen forwards, not backwards.
A green blur approached from above, and there he saw Izuku, floating above him with a smile. "Yeah, you weren't kidding about it being precarious, it was like tipping over a Jenga tower, you shouldn't take that lightly, though, third party interference can be quite dangerous. Good to see you're alright though, just be more careful next time!"
With that, the class president kept flying forwards ahead of him, Shouto cursed his moment of distraction and continued running.
"And just like that, Midoriya has turned Todoroki's own stunt against him, stealing the lead and flying ahead with it! I know they're supposed to show off here, but seriously Eraserhead, what are you feeding these kids!?"
"Literally nothing, I'm a teacher, not a babysitter."
As the commentary kept going in the background, in a private room inside the stadium, a skinny All Might watched the current events through a large screen in the room, though his gaze was locked on only one of the participants.
"Oh boy, that kid sure made an impression on you, didn't he?" Recovery Girl asked rhetorically, wanting to have some entertainment before they started sending wounded participants her way.
"I suppose he did," the Symbol of Peace answered nonetheless. "I already had my eye on him since the entrance exam, but I think this seals the deal."
"Wonderful, am I going to have to start preparing for more headaches?"
"Hey, what does that mean?"
"If you like him, that means he's somewhat similar to you."
"Your bluntness hurts sometimes, Chiyo." The hero shook his head, and looked back at the screen, showing the young man flying through the course once again, "Though, there is another reason I'm staring so much. I feel like I've met him before, I'm trying to remember where."
"Maybe you met him during one of those meet and greet events you do."
"I haven't done one of those in a long while, though," he sighed, reminiscing on better years. "And no, it's not from that."
It felt like the memory was about to jump at him at any moment, of when and where he had seen Izuku before, yet it didn't, perpetually on almost remembering.
"You're still too young to be having memory problems, you probably did meet him but it wasn't that important." The nurse said, and All Might had to contain the urge to ask if she said that merely to make herself feel younger. "Still, you're going to offer it to the kid, no?"
"After that small speech he gave? I'm certain."
I could not only hear, but feel the heroic spirit within him. He'd not only make a great wielder of One for All, but also a great Symbol of Peace in the future. Not only that, I should decide on a successor quickly. That Nomu really is worrying me that he's not fully out of the picture. I just hope that it's paranoia, this next generation looks so bright that I don't want them to have to deal with it.
Back in the grounds of the "Robopocalypse", many of the students were stuck fighting the robots. Any aggression between them was forgotten momentarily in face of this common enemy, and as such, they were slowly but surely beginning to open a path through the mechanical inferno.
Then suddenly, from one of the fallen robots, two figures emerged from it, tearing through metal fist first and then their upper bodies.
"I ain't dead!" Both Eijirou and Tetsutetsu said at the same time, in the same pose, both fully covered in the protected layer of their Quirk. They then noticed the other, and each pointed a finger at the copycat. "Same entrance!"
"Why didn't you tell me you were also a tough brawler!?" Tetsutetsu complained as he fully got out of the robot, getting into a run.
"Are you saying I don't look like one, huh!?" The redhead challenged, mirroring the actions of his rival. "Besides, we didn't talk much that time, I wouldn't have pegged you as a brawler either!"
Their argument got interrupted by the sounds of steps on metal, and they saw Katsuki rapidly running on the robots, before getting to the ground, he was quickly gaining on them and was carrying a long metal pole in his hand.
"Save your flirting for later, assholes, focus on the damn race!"
"Hey, where did you get that!?" Tetsutetsu asked.
"It was laying on the floor, must have been a piece of hydraulics, or some shit. I don't care, I just know it's useful for tripping," as he said that the blond suddenly struck Eijirou on the shin with it, demonstrating that he was right, the Hardening user face planting on the ground behind them.
"Hey, no fair!"
His classmate looked at him nervously, still running. "You ruined the surprise factor for me, you know?"
"Eyes up ahead, dumbass."
"Wha-" in the same moment he went to look ahead, he felt an impact on his shin, the metal pole reverberating in Katsuki's hand with a satisfying cling. "You're really losing my respect, man!"
The armed teen looked at his weapon, and grinned ferociously.
Not like that sabotaged you much, Tinman, you got back up in less than three seconds. It's mainly to get you mad, though. I know that there are team events, but I want to be out of my comfort zone for this thing.
As he thought that, he heard something whooshing behind him, glancing back, he saw a pair of severed hands flying past him, and then a floating mouth smirking at him, floating alongside him.
"Ohh, playing dirty? Should I join your game, bad boy?" The mouth said in a feminine voice he recognized from his class.
"The hell do you want, Gecko? Aren't you with the lay low group?"
"Not when everyone's reputation is on the line, y'know? Now, if you'll excuse me, the finish line awaits me, I might wave at you from there if you ask nicely enough!" Laughing, she flew past him in an assortment of different pieces.
More than being annoyed at the development, this made him more motivated. He knew some would still stick to the plan, but now more were seriously competing. Good.
After some minutes of running, he came face to face with the next obstacle. A large canyon with ropes connecting each piece of land. There were several pieces of rope for them to use to move forward, each connecting to small "islands" until the canyon ended. He heard from the commentary what this obstacle was all about when Izuku, Shouto and the others in the top ten arrived here. There was an important piece of information, anyone who fell was automatically eliminated. So, simply don't fall was the name of the game.
He ran on the tightrope, grabbing onto his weapon tightly so as not to lose it. He could use it to help him keep his balance, but he needed to run quickly across each rope. It also would make him look lame as all hell, so it wouldn't do.
Right as he got to the end of the first rope, he noticed something. While around five of the ropes at the beginning led to this small section of land, only two ropes led forward and to different paths. Looking ahead, he saw that those were also connected to other small mesas, all following the trend, more entrances than exits. Eventually, they all would converge into a single rope that led to the next part of the race. This wasn't just an obstacle meant to slow them down by having them keep their balance, it was also the second filter of the race.
Not thinking much more about it, he began running through the second one, and he noticed he wasn't alone on his path forward. He recognized Manga and Shihai (or Comicstrip and Void Face, as he called them) from his class, and two others from the nerd's. Though in the case of the latter, he could name only one of them, and while he hadn't interacted with the birdhead since the exam, it was hard to forget someone with such a distinctive appearance.
They all noticed what was going on, and all had the question. Which two would get to walk on the ropes first?
Katsuki was the one who was moving the fastest among all five of them, all that training he's been doing for over a year wasn't for nothing, and following him in pace was birdhead. Of course, Manga didn't like how those odds looked for him, so breathing deeply he prepared himself and then yelled:
"Whoosh!"
A strong gust of wind blew from Manga's direction towards them, and they had to pause to gather their balance, it was impossible to stand in that moment, and they had to kneel down to grab onto the rope they were holding.
"Comicstrip, you fuck! I'm going to turn you into a footnote later!"
"Sorry, but we're really competing here, you see!" As if to mock him, Manga's face now had a cartoonish drawing of Katsuki's face on it. "Would be bad if we didn't give it our all, you know!"
Growling, the blond crawled through the rope, still holding onto the metal rod, refusing to let himself slow down that much because of this.
"Wisely spoken. However, you've dared to challenge the abyss…" Fumikage said as Dark Shadow extended from his body to deliver a chop right on the rope that Manga was running on, snapping it. …and it greets your challenge."
"Whoa!" The teen grabbed tightly onto the end of the rope tied to the mesa ahead, and saw that thanks to that, he was now swinging towards hard stone. Breathing deeply, he yelled once again. "Boing!"
Rather than slamming into it, he bounced from it, with much more force compared to his usual momentum, he was practically flung upwards, and as such he couldn't keep his grip on the rope and was airborne for about two seconds before gravity sent him crashing into the hard ground of the mesa.
"Ow," rather than say it, his bubble communicated it in written form, with a drawing of a bandaid on the corner of it.
"Wow, I take my eyes away for five seconds, and we've got fighting going on in The Fall!" Present Mic announced, "Manga Fukidashi got aggressive but wasn't ready for the retaliation! Can we get a replay on all of that act- Wait a second! Midoriya is at the final obstacle! He's been keeping a steady lead this whole race, but how will he handle the devious, treacherous and unforgiving Mine Field!? One wrong move and you'll be absolutely discombobulated by a sonic explosion the likes of which-!"
"He can fly over it." Eraserhead dryly pointed out.
"Oh." The Voice hero said, his tone much less energetic than usual, before he breathed in deeply. "And just like that, Izuku Midoriya from 1-A takes first place on the Obstacle Course! The show's not over yet, folks, there's still plenty of spots for the second stage of the festival!"
Katsuki gritted his teeth, ignoring the cheers of the audience, and did his best to crawl the rope faster, getting to solid ground and hastily getting back to running, he noticed that he wasn't the only one.
Birdhead was running ahead of him, his Quirk having carried him the distance over the rope and… Void Face wasn't anywhere on sight. Just as he thought that, Katsuki saw the face of his classmate on Dark Shadow. The bastard managed to hitch a ride.
That left the other 1-A student, a mantis of sorts. The guy recovered quickly from Manga's attack, and much like Katsuki, he seemed to have crawled forwards, advancing despite the loss of balance.
"I'm taking that rope!" Blades expanded from the guy's arm. "I warn you, if you try to take it from me, I'll carve you up!"
"I ain't afraid of a bootleg Wolverine!" Katsuki prepared his improvised staff. "Try it, see how well that goes for you, asshole!"
They both glared at one another, and, to Katsuki's surprise, the guy did attack mid run, lunging towards him, blade heading towards. The blond swung his weapon, redirecting the attack away from him, and then spun the rod vertically to hit his opponent in the jaw. At that moment, another blade sprung from the fanged student's arm, creating an improvised shield for the strike.
Even if that prevented the strike, it still knocked him off-balance, and was enough for Katsuki to start making some distance. The blond, of course, was a very gracious winner, and seeing that he ended up on top of this small altercation, he did the logical thing.
He flipped the guy off. "Get into the finals, maybe then you'll be able to carve me up, if I don't kill you first!"
Togaru gritted his teeth, looked at his own blades and then at the rope that Katsuki was already starting to run on, consideration of cutting it up rose in his head. He retracted his blades and chose to take the rope that Fumikage was already running on. In his mind, it'd be better to have a proper fight without a secondary objective.
"With more and more people starting to get out of The Fall," Present Mic kept the commentary up, "pressure is building up for Todoroki to finish with the Mine Field and take second place! That's because, coming at high speed from 1-B, Setsuna Tokage has just arrived at the final obstacle! Will she be able to traverse the field in- Oh, she also flies."
Hearing that, Katsuki just kept on running. He didn't know how many people were about to get to that Mine Field, but he needed a plan and fast. If that Todoroki guy was having so much trouble going over it quickly, then that meant that he possibly would take about the same time to go over it. That is, if he went through it normally.
Alright, you piece of shit, you can't rely on pure brawn and instincts to get you through that one. Think, asshole, how do you get over a whole fucking minefield without blowing the fuck up!?
He could use the rod to attempt a pole vault, but he doubted he would get much distance, certainly not enough to cross the field. He could try and use the mines to propel himself, but he didn't know if they had enough potency to launch him through the finish, and he didn't trust himself to be able to control the trajectory precisely.
Frustration was starting to rise up within him and one of his eyes twitched.
Come up with a plan, you fuck!
Izuku stared at the minefield from a comfortable distance. No one had yet set off any of the mines, however, he didn't want to be near them when one of those set off, he imagined that the sound wouldn't be pleasant.
Man, I wasn't expecting to have so much free time in the middle of the festival, one of the bad things about ignoring more than a third of the obstacles, I suppose.
"And just like that, we have our second place, as Setsuna flies through the finish line! I'll say, all this aerial maneuverability is sure making the Mine Field seem weak, however, let's see how the rest of the grounded participants cope with it!"
He does know that Uraraka can clear it with a long jump if she uses her Quirk on herself, right? … Albeit a bit slowly, from what I recall.
"Hello there," The voice of the second place spoke right next to him. No matter what anyone says, he didn't flinch. "All alone here, first-place? Would you mind some company…?"
"I- Haha, no, no. I was getting a bit bored of waiting for others to show up."
"Hmm. It seems they're gonna take a while." She leaned forward, just breaching a little bit into his comfort zone. "All the more time to ourselves, Midoriya."
"U-Uhm," he averted his gaze, hiding his blush. "M-Man, even with the warning you caught me by surprise. That said, could you, y'know, spare me a bit?"
She blinked, her facade faltering for a moment. "Warning?"
"Oh, uh, right. Guess you don't know. I'm Kacc-, well, Bakugou's friend. He told me you like to see the reactions you get out of people by being a bit flirtatious."
"Huh… He did?" Tokage completely dropped the act. "I thought he didn't pay attention to us. I honestly didn't think he even knew our names."
I'm not going to shatter the illusion by saying that the only names I've gotten were thanks to Kendou.
"He pays attention. He just…" Trying to find the right words to sound nice without lying. "...has a hard time forming connections with people."
"Ha! You can say that again. That angry pomeranian pretty much only talks with Tetsu and Itsuka, though Monoma sometimes joins their group… Either that, or he argues with Shiozaki every now and then. Total loner." She turned towards the Mine Field, curious about the noise made by a handful of other students who were beginning to take the first steps upon it. "Bet you a thousand yen they don't last ten seconds without activating them."
"No, I'm goo-"
Izuku was interrupted by an uproarious boom. Thankfully the explosion wasn't that damaging, more meant to disorient and confuse than to cause harm.
"-d… I hope Jirou knows a way to deafen that. Shouji, too."
"Who?"
"Oh, friends of mine. Enhanced hearing." Izuku's replies were becoming shorter as he paid more attention to the race now that there were more people in the final stretch.
"Ahh. Sheesh, hope they get out of this okay." Was the last thing the girl said before doing the same.
It was chaotic. Many arrived and saw Shouto slowly but surely making his way towards the finish line and so plenty decided to go forward as fast as they could in order to secure themselves a spot, caution to the wind. It was the idea that there was little time left. That the spots were slowly but surely going to run out.
There were some good ideas among the panic, some were taking advantage of their Quirks to skip ahead and not have to step on the ground so much, causing less risk of a detonation, like Fumikage was doing. Others were simply imitating people who were already advancing, knowing that if they got that far, the path they took must be clear.
Still, no one was closing the distance on the current third place, who despite the pressure of possibly being knocked out of the top three, was keeping a steady pace. A mistake at this point could prove extremely costly.
It all seemed very clear cut in Izuku's eyes, and that's why he kept his eyes on the chaos. It was in moments like this when people were the most likely to reveal their hidden trump cards in order to secure a higher place. Perhaps not right now, third place in the preliminary hardly seemed prestigious enough to warrant it, however, those with a competitive fire to them would rather struggle to get third than to settle with fourth.
And it was then when he spotted him. Katsuki running towards the goal, a metal rod in hand, and a manic grin on his face. He looked like he had a plan, which was certainly intriguing, given the tools the blond seemed to have. Only himself and an iron bo staff, and knowing his friend, Izuku doubted that he would ask for the help of anybody even if this wasn't that big of a competition. It seemed impossible to do something substantial to carry him forward. Curious, Izuku simply waited to see what his friend had planned in order to secure himself a higher spot.
It was shocking to see his friend stop suddenly, the rod held high in the air, and twisted his body to then throw the rod like a javelin. It whirled through the air, until it hit his target, striking the ground. Directly to the right of Shouto Todoroki. It was already an impressive throw, more than expected of an athletic man of Katsuki's age, what was more impressive, however, was the fact that it wasn't only a distance shot. It was also one that showed incredible accuracy and eye for detail.
An explosion surfaced from where the rod struck, knocking Todoroki away from it. Directly away from it.
Everything goes as long as you stay within the course, get out of it, and you're disqualified!
Midnight's words from earlier rang out not only in Izuku's mind, but also Shouto's, the latter seeing himself practically flying in the sky towards the bounds of the course, and he wasn't slowing down. Time slowed down, he was disoriented, he wasn't grounded, he didn't have anything to spread his ice to create a barrier to stop him. In the suddenness of it all, he just thought he couldn't lose, not now, not so early.
Briefly, he lost control, and a burst of flame canceled out his momentum, making him fall to the ground. The impact gravity gave him wasn't as hard as the realization of what he just did.
In the meantime, Katsuki smirked, turned towards the others and yelled "What are you assholes waiting for!? Did you forget that everything goes here!? The best way to secure a high place is to make sure no one else gets it! The biggest obstacle in this race is us!"
It only took one person to follow his words. One sabotage was met with another. People trying to stay out of it got dragged into it, even if not fighting it, they had to dodge it. In the chaos, allies got in each other's way. Suddenly, it was everyone for themselves. If the previous state of the race was chaos, now, it was pandemonium.
It dawned on Izuku exactly why this was his friend's aim. How does Kacchan thrive in something that doesn't need pure instinct and brawn? By turning it into something that does.
If there was one thing the Quirkless teen had, it was battle instincts. With more than a dozen different people, with different Quirks, all fighting while having to avoid barely noticeable marks on the ground where landmines were in? He was in his element.
"Woah! What's this!?" Present Mic was quick to fill in, "With that attack, the Mine Field has turned more perilous than ever! It's pure carnage right there! Todoroki's leisurely stroll through the bomb-filled field has turned into a dangerous fight for third place! Now this is the action I've been craving for!"
Katsuki smiled ferally in the middle of the cacophony of competitive chaos, he blocked a kick that was headed his way, jumped over muddy ground, punched a tailed guy in the stomach as he attempted to knock him down.
At this moment, where a moment of distraction could drag you down several spots, where any mistake you might make could possibly even get you out of the race, he was thriving. He could forget about his inadequacies in this moment, about his doubts, he could just be himself. By the time the chaos died down, he wasn't even upset that he finished fifth.
A/N:
Hellou, hellou!
So, Sports Festival time, way easier to write at the moment than any other stuff.
Certain stuff is certainly changing from how everything turned out in canon, more people from 1-B being motivated into seriously competing from the beginning, Katsuki causing the actual final obstacle of the race to be an all-out free-for-all brawl so that he could crawl closer to the top in an enviroment where he excels at. Play into your strenghts, and if you can't, change it so that you're able to.
Nice moment to forget his doubts, but much like he said at the beginning, that is not a permanent solution to a decade of built up insecurity.
Oh, and, small spoiler, next event is not going to be the Cavalry Battle. Not only for the sake of variety, but also, Izuku can and would just stay in the air for the entirety of it, making it so that his only feasable rivals for that event are Tokage, Pony and Neito. (Any other ranged option would be able to attack him, but not steal the headbands)
Now, onto another note, a thing that one review kinda asked about way back and I sort of avoided at the time, but I feel it's better if I'm honest. I have no clue on whether or not to give Katsuki a pairing in this one. I thought I'd make up my mind on it as I wrote it, but I haven't really decided. What do you guys think?
Anyways, see you!