One week was not a lot of time. The next seven days after his talk with All Might passed in the blink of an eye, so fast that Izuku got a little bit of whiplash as he was carted off to the stadium on the following Monday. Izuku was sitting in a waiting room reserved for their class, and he was currently adjusting his gloves as he sat on a bench next to Uraraka, who was doing some breathing exercises in preparation. The sports festival was upon them, and everyone was getting ready in their own way. Izuku was making sure that his gloves were on as tightly as possible, which they were. They were almost cutting off circulation to his hands, which was the sweet spot. Looking around the room met Izuku with a view of everyone else's preparation methods, from Kirishima arm-wrestling Shoji, to Ashido stretching on the floor, to Todoroki's cold stare at nothing.
Wait, that wasn't right.
Todoroki was staring at Izuku, which made him jump upon realising it. Sending a questioning look at Todoroki in return got Izuku nowhere, though Todoroki didn't look away like the other times Izuku had caught him staring. There had been a number of times where Izuku had turned around and Todoroki had suddenly been staring at a wall with such intensity that it looked as though he hated the wall with all his heart. It was strange, and Izuku had wanted to approach him about it, but he knew that Todoroki wasn't very social, and didn't want to make it a big deal, so he'd let it go. However, today was different. It was the sports festival, and Izuku didn't need this today. So, instead of letting it go and waiting until another time, Izuku decided that it was the perfect time to sort out whatever it was that was causing this strange behaviour in Todoroki, as being distracted by this would just hold both of them back in the trials to come.
"Hey, Todoroki," Izuku said, standing up and beginning to walk towards the boy.
To his credit, Todoroki didn't show if he was angry, excited or nervous. He simply stood up as well, taking a few steps forward so that Izuku and him were standing on opposite sides of a table in the middle of the room. Izuku tried to get any idea of what he was thinking from his face, but couldn't put together anything useful.
"Do you have a problem with me or something?" Izuku asked. He figured getting straight to the point would be best for this type of conversation.
"Are you aware of who my father is?" Todoroki asked, possibly the first words that he'd said directly to Izuku.
"Of course I do. Even mid-range heroes have difficulty keeping their private lives private, so everyone knows you share a name with the number two hero," Izuku said. He was truly baffled by what the point was.
"Then we understand each other," Todoroki said with narrowed eyes, clearly meaning something he wasn't saying.
"What are you talking about? What do we understand?" Izuku asked.
"Hotheaded fathers have the mightiest of expectations, don't they, Izuku Midoriya?" Todoroki said again, placing emphasis on his family name.
Izuku felt his heart sink into his stomach. Todoroki couldn't know about his father, could he? Was there any other way to interpret that, though? Todoroki's father was Endeavor, who was possibly the most powerful pyrokinetic in Japan, and he was definitely hotheaded. Izuku didn't remember a lot about his father, but he knew enough to say he was definitely aggressive with his powerful flame-breathing Quirk. Everything with his father had happened so long ago that he'd almost forgotten in the rush that the past few weeks had been, but was it really coming back to haunt him now? If that was what Todoroki was talking about, then how did he know about it? That was the real puzzling thing. Sure, Izuku had been a little more at peace with what had happened and let it slip from his mind for a while, but was this what Todoroki's problem with him was? He was the son of a villain, and not an obscure one that had retired to go on the straight and narrow, either. Hisashi Midoriya, otherwise known in criminal circles as Dragon, was a career criminal, and he had been wanted by the police for a long time before everything had happened at home that one night a decade ago. He'd gotten into a few fights with heroes, namely Manual and Endeavor, but had managed to escape both times, which was why he was wanted. That was public knowledge, but it wasn't public knowledge that he was dead, and Izuku had never had anything to do with his father's business, so what did Todoroki want from him? Was he just after closure for his dad?
Izuku didn't say any of this, so as to not cause a scene. Or, at least, a bigger scene. Seeing as he'd just stood up and started interrogating a classmate when they'd previously had a sum of zero conversations, there was cause for interest among their classmates who were still getting themselves ready for the challenges ahead of them. Izuku figured he should do the same, and despite wanting desperately to drag Todoroki out of the room and ask him every question that was on his mind, he turned around and silently walked away, sitting himself back down next to Uraraka, who was looking at him with a confused expression.
"What was that about?" she asked, putting a hand on his.
"I'll tell you later," Izuku mumbled, not entirely sure if he would. Izuku had told her about his first time using his Quirk, but he hadn't told her about his father. It was just too much for how new their relationship was.
"Oh, okay," Uraraka said, giving his hand a squeeze.
"Ah, but how do you feel?" Izuku asked, feeling that the squeeze was stronger than the usual softer assurances she liked to give every now and then.
"Oh, I'm fine. Really," Uraraka said, adding a hasty assurance when she seemed to think Izuku didn't believe that.
"Okay!" he said with a laugh. "You can tell me if you're not, though, y'know?"
"I know. Thanks," she replied with a wide smile.
Izuku felt a smile grow on his face as he sat by Uraraka and felt the warmth of her hand melding with his own. He was wearing his gloves, but he'd have to take them off at some point to properly use his Quirk. Izuku had known about the rule concerning support items and how one needed to get permission before bringing any into the festival, and so he'd gone to Aizawa a few days ago and asked whether or not the gloves counted as support items, or if they were inconspicuous enough to fly under the radar and be passed off as just gloves. Aizawa had argued that, since they managed the function of his Quirk, they fell into the general definition of a support item in the hero industry. Therefore, he'd needed permission, which he then got, meaning he could bring his gloves with him when it was time for the festival to begin and simply keep them on him at all times for if he needed them in an emergency. Izuku hoped he wouldn't need them during the actual events, but he wouldn't be the one to say anything was certain at UA; he'd learned that much, at least. Izuku, despite how fast his time to prepare had flown by him, felt ready for this. He felt like he had a real shot at winning this festival, and was itching to get started.
A few minutes after Izuku and Todoroki's cryptic conversation, it was time. It had been quiet for a few moments, but as a quick knock on the door rang out from just outside in the hall, Izuku could feel the air in the room tense in anticipation. Looking around, even the more stoic, aloof members of the class, such as Tokoyami and Shoji, bore tension in every facet of their beings, from their posture, to their facial expressions, to the looks they were sending to others. Nobody was free from stress in the moments before their public debut as heroes-to-be. Izuku took a deep breath and stood, Uraraka coming with him. The two of them untangled their fingers from the other's, and Izuku lamented the fact that they had to. It wasn't because of any rule, but Izuku wasn't sure how comfortable he was being all affectionate with Uraraka on live, international television.
It was then that Iida began to urge the class on in vacating the room and exiting into the hall. Izuku was pushed between Uraraka, who stuck close to him still, and Kirishima, who was wearing a wide grin that was so infectious that even Izuku was forced to smile. Their class quickly got organised into a group when the other classes began to push up through the hall, similarly bunching up in their peer groups and forcing those in front of them forward in their various states of panic and exhilaration. Luckily, Class-1A was at the front of the precession, and so they could decide the pace at which they advanced through the hall and out onto the field that it opened up to. Izuku, being on the shorter end of the scale, couldn't see past enough people to get a good look at what the field looked like, but he'd seen previous festivals on television, so he could guess well enough what was ahead for them all. Though the smile remained fixed on Izuku's face, he did have to take a steadying breath as the announcements became audible.
Per tradition, Present Mic was doing the commentary. Izuku could faintly hear him beginning the opening introductions to the festival, laying down ground rules and similar obligatory warnings and informative explanations. Somewhere along the line, Present Mic explained the rule about Quirk use during the events, that being that there are no limits placed upon Quirks other than violence for violence's sake not being allowed. Izuku tried his best not to think about how certain people would react to that rule, and began the process of putting everything except the festival out of his mind. It was similar to meditation, except he was using it to make himself, ironically, more present. It wasn't long before the announcements were concluded and it was time for the festival to begin in earnest, as Present Mic called out their class.
Iida responded to this by beginning to walk forward. Izuku knew that it was the cue for them to emerge from the hall and show themselves to the world, and he picked up Iida's pace a few steps behind. The class then began to follow, one by one, into the blinding light of the late-morning sun. Izuku had to squint to retain his vision, but he did manage to look up and keep the smile he'd gotten from Kirishima. He was grateful for Kirishima's positive attitude, as it had kept him afloat a few times after a hard lesson or a particularly gruelling training session. It was especially coming in handy now, when Izuku really needed to avoid falling down a negative rabbit hole today.
After a few moments of walking on the grass that the hall transitioned into, Iida guided the class to their mark in front of a large stage that Midnight, the R-Rated Hero, was perched on. Izuku had known that Present Mic did the commentary for the festival every year, but the referee changed every year, and this time it seemed to be Midnight, who stood beside Cementoss. Cementoss, on the other hand, was necessary every year, as he and he alone was able to construct the elaborate arenas that the festival used with his ability to shape cement. It was an insanely useful Quirk, something that had benefited a lot of people, especially those in low-income and lower-class areas. The ability to simply erect whole buildings, like Cementoss was capable of, had been the answer to homelessness in Musutafu and the regions around it. Cementoss was a true hero, through and through, and Izuku had even come to respect the man's intelligence and more cerebral side, as he was 1A's literature teacher.
As the classes all fell into place around the stage, Midnight and Cementoss began to speak with each other in low voices, presumably so that the students could not overhear what they were saying. It seemed that they agreed on something, and Midnight broke away from her fellow teacher to approach the plinth a few steps away from them. She waved to the crowd, who applauded uproariously. She continued for a few moments, pulling poses that Izuku was sure made online viewership multiply several times. When the frenzied applause did begin to die down, Midnight spoke into the microphone she took from the plinth.
"Hello and good morning, everyone! Welcome to the first years' stage of the UA sports festival!" Midnight said, eliciting more cheers from the audience. "We're going to get started in just a moment, folks, but first we'll hear from one of our participants! Will the top scorer of the hero course entrance exam please come and give us a few words?"
As the crowd cheered, Izuku felt his heart stop for a split second. That couldn't be right. He couldn't have heard Midnight correctly. She had to be talking about someone else. Looking to his right, he saw Uraraka looking at him with a bright smile, and she reached up, leaving her little finger lifted up, to shake him by the shoulder in excitement. Izuku did not share in Uraraka's excitement. He looked over at her and hoped that she could see how he was beginning to sweat.
"No, I can't do that," Izuku said, his voice breaking.
"Why not? It's just a few words! I think you can do it," Uraraka said, continuing to smile like a good thing was happening.
"I don't want to. Why me?!" Izuku frantically said, waving his hands about trying to persuade her.
"C'mon, man, we're all rooting for you!" said a voice from behind Izuku, and he turned around to see Kirishima giving him a thumb's up.
Izuku looked around and saw his classmates giving him encouraging looks. They were all in support of him. He met a few others' eyes. Iida, Asui, Ashido, Yaoyorozu, they were all looking at him and gesturing silently with their hands for him to step up onto the stage. Everyone wanted him to get up there and do his best to start the festival. He'd be letting down his friends if he didn't do it. Izuku looked up at Midnight and frowned. She was holding out the microphone for him. It was only a few steps and then he'd be up there, and it was only a few words and he could return to the shroud of anonymity that was his class. He could do that. He'd count the steps.
Taking a step forward was tough with how much he wanted to stay rooted to the spot, but he did it. Izuku then took another step forward, and soon he was walking forward towards the stage with a rhythm that he worked himself into to keep from losing his focus and panicking. He got up onto the stage and approached Midnight, who smiled at him and held the microphone out for him to take. Izuku took the microphone with a clammy hand and brought it up to his face. He couldn't face the crowd, so he faced his classmates, and the other classes that would all serve as his competition today.
"Let's all do our best!" Izuku said, with a shaking voice. He met the eyes of his friends in the crowd, and felt a comfort settle over him. He then found Todoroki in the crowd, staring at him as if he was seeing something disgusting. "I hope nobody here thinks they have a real shot at this if they're holding anything back, so come at me with all you've got, and I'll do the same!"
Class-1A began to laugh and give a variety of positive responses back, while 1B began to do the opposite, spitting insults at him. He heard the blond kid from the other day ask his buddy what kind of Quirk he had to have to be so arrogant. Izuku took a moment to realise the audience was also cheering for him. He felt a rush of adrenaline wash over him and he felt like he was on top of the world standing on that stage. Izuku could do this, no problem. He handed the microphone back to an approving Midnight and walked back down to join his class, a few members of which met his eyes with a fire as he passed them. Izuku passed Todoroki on his way back to his place next to Uraraka, and smiled at him with a grin that told him Izuku wasn't messing around. Now was the time to go all out, and Izuku was completely prepared to do just that. As Izuku resumed his position in the class, Midnight spoke up once again.
"Well, with that being said, that means the game is on! Let's finally get ready, everyone!"
Izuku took a deep, steadying breath, and knew that this was going to be the most intense day of his life at UA yet. He wouldn't have it any other way.