They eyes of a young man, a prospective hero in training, focused squarely on his phone, locked on a picture he had taken only weeks ago. It was the high point of his life up until now. He had experienced greater thrills since but very few quite so special. Looking at the picture now, instead of the sweet taste of pride and accomplishment, it now only left him with bitter feelings.

"I'm breaking up with you."

"... Excuse me?"

"You've only been going to UA for two weeks and your life is already crazy! You were attacked by villains! Real ones! They broke into your school!"

"So?"

"So I'm scared! I don't wanna get murdered by some psycho just so they can get at hero students!"

"I'll protect you! I'm gonna be a hero, that's the job!"

"Do you even care enough to protect me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Who was that girl leaving your apartment yesterday?"

"She's a classmate."

"Just a classmate, huh? Just a classmate that you had moaning like a whore! Who limped out of your place twenty minutes later?!"

"That's not–"

"DON'T LIE TO ME! I thought you loved me but you never said it did you?! Do you even care about me at all?! Well if all being with you is gonna get me is cheated on and targeted by villains then we're through! I hope that skank gave you herpes you asshole!"

That bitch. Thinking she could just leave him like that! A whole fucking year of her giving him blue balls and then only weeks after she finally spread her legs she wanted to dump him? Him?! Did she think she'd find someone better?!

From a purely practical perspective the whole mess could have been avoided if he just fucked Katsumi somewhere else instead of bringing her to his apartment. But Saiki wasn't a purely practical person. He had a dream. A dream of having the kind of money, power and fame that meant he could do whatever he wanted. The kind of status that would see people bend over backwards and forwards to please him, just so they could have a taste of the privilege he enjoyed constantly.

He had gotten a swelled head. He had been enjoying success after success. Getting into UA, popping Juri's cherry, scoring first on the quirk tests, getting that fat-titted Izuku wrapped around his finger, popping Katsumi's cherry, fighting real life villains, making Katsumi cum as he pounded her back door. Was it any wonder that he believed himself untouchable? And then of all people Juri, ordinary, boring Juri, was the one to bring him back down to Earth...

Fine, he decided. It was a shame. He wouldn't have anyone there to drain his balls on demand anymore, but he had his fun with Juri. He would just have to replace her with someone ten times more impressive than she could ever be!

There was an impulse, for just a moment. An impulse to post the picture online. Posing for the camera, putting her naked body on display with a smile on her face? She'd be labelled a whore for the rest of her life. But no, the last thing he needed was to have this come back on him more than it already had. If she wanted to live a life of mediocrity then that was what she deserved. She wouldn't get to bring him down with her.

-(-)-

"Your trials aren't over."

The entire class were brought to sudden, terrified attention by the ominous words of Aizawa.

"The UA Sports Festival is coming up."

And so the recently mildly traumatised class got yet another lesson in what kind of man their teacher was. One who would use terror as a way to get his point across. Couldn't argue with the results.

The UA Sports Festival. The one event of the year where students were able to truly sell themselves as future pro heroes! A chance to compete and show what they were really made of! It was a chance to get major media attention before going pro! Maybe even a chance to get scouted by a major agency! An unmissable opportunity for any aspiring pro!

And as a minor bonus for one vindictive boy, it was a chance to show his ex-girlfriend what she just gave up on national television. But he knew he should stop focusing on her. Instead, he needed to put his money where his mouth was, work on finding someone better. And what better chance was there for him to see if the seeds he planted have borne fruit?

"Hey Momo!" he called out to the class representative the second class ended, "You wanna train together for the sports festival? We could bring Izuku and Jirou along too."

"Ah," the elegant rich girl looked oddly awkward, one hand wrapped around her other wrist, eyes averted. "That's... I appreciate the offer, really I do! But I'm sorry, I have to decline."

Saiki's teeth clenched, hard. Another rejection? Another rejection? "I see. That's a shame. Izuku, you interested?"

"Oh, uh, sure! That sounds–"

"Ugh, don't you idiots get it?!" the rough voice of Katsumi Bakugo rang out angrily. "Even Fancy Hair gets what's going on here!" Even though as she looked over her shoulder at Saiki he could see the smirk creeping onto her face. Enjoying how riled up he was getting. Even if he still managed to hide it from everyone else, she knew his true face. She could see he was livid. "Until the sports festival is over we're not just classmates anymore! We're rivals! Every single one of us is gonna have to step on the rest if we want to stand at the top!"

Saiki's eyes narrowed at the ash-blonde girl. "Is that so? So I'll be making sure you're under me then."

"You'll try and fail, Creeper," she denied, giving a vicious smile that was all teeth. "I'm gonna be on top."

Only the two of them were aware of the subtext of the exchange. Another challenge had been lain down.

-(-)-

Weeks. For weeks, Saiki's life outside of classes was nothing but training, training and more training. And work, of course. But even then he was training. Filled with frustration, he pushed himself like he had done for the years before getting into UA, only this time he didn't have the luxury of time to get stronger. He knew the entire class would be training just as hard as he was and they had the luxury of creative quirk use to grow stronger. All he had was sheer perseverance.

Twice more he got himself sent to the hospital, once to Recovery Girl who gave him a stern talking to the way only an old woman could. Considering the ridiculous things he did in hopes of enhancing his abilities the number of visits should have been much higher. That it wasn't was actually a detriment.

The truth was, he was beginning to struggle in finding things that could cause enough trauma to trigger his quirk. He could improve his active parameters still. Strength, speed, endurance. But those were all things that he trained anyway and spending more time on them wouldn't have significantly greater returns. But for durability and body efficiency? He hit a wall. Efficiency was probably fine. Things like going without oxygen or food or water are things that were only occasionally useful, especially considering he was already better on those fronts than the vast majority. But durability? That special move Katsumi used on him... He knew the other students would have things like that waiting for him in the festival and there wasn't much he could do to gain resistance to that kind of power. Not on his own. Saiki could sit in a bathtub of ice for as long as he wants, it just won't compare to Todoroki's power to flash-freeze a building. There were more extreme methods, sure. But using them without a spotter? Going to the hospital was fine. Risking death was not.

There were few students Saiki felt he had to worry about... But the ones he did? They were probably improving by leaps and bounds while he was stuck right where he was. Even though he made the invitation mostly to get into Momo and/or Izuku's panties, it turned out he really did need other people to train with.

Without that... He did what he could.

Before long, the big day arrived.

"Let's hear it for Class 1-A!"

The first big day, that was. The sports festival was a three-day event, one day for each of the three years of students. Walking out onto the field was an invigorating experience that pushed past Saiki's nerves. The enormous crowds in the stands, all cheering for him! Well, also for his classmates but that was s a less important detail. The class lined up in front of the stage alongside their sister class 1-B and the classes from other courses who honestly weren't important and in Saiki's opinion, shouldn't really have been there. They were a bunch of people who didn't cut it in the entrance exam, what were they going to do here?

Speaking of the entrance exam, Saiki saw a vaguely familiar face, familiar only because the boy was so distinctive. Standing all of two foot nothing with hair made of purple balls. In that moment the little twerp caught him looking and glares on realising who it was. Oh right, Saiki realised. He stole that kid's kill in the entrance exam! Small world!

A sudden whip-crack snatched his attention back to the stage where Midnight was looking gorgeous and also probably saying something important. "And now for the student pledge, Katsumi Bakugo!"

Katsumi shouldered her way through the crowd to the front, climbing the stairs onto the stage with her hands in her pockets. Even so, she didn't slouch, giving her an air of casual confidence. She took a breath through her nose before leaning into the mic. "I just wanna say... I'm gonna win."

Leave it to Katsumi to piss off everyone. Well not like it mattered. Every other class hated 1-A anyway so it wouldn't change anything there. And for the audience... Well if she lived up to her words then it was an impressive called shot. And if she didn't it made the one who took her down look even better for putting the arrogant girl in her place. Of course, it would also make the people who did worse than her look even more inferior no matter what. Katsumi just made herself the benchmark for the first years and the centre of attention.

Saiki had to hand it to her. Intentional or not, it was an impressive and ballsy move. But he knew well enough by now that no matter what you could say about her negative traits, she was always willing to put everything on the line.

"And here we go! The first game of the festival!" Midnight announced after Katsumi vacated the stage, an animated reel spinning on the big screen behind her, "What could it be?!" The reel snapped to a stop on 'Obstacle Race'. "Ta-da! All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest! The track is 4 kilometers around the outside of the stadium! I don't want to restrain anyone... At least in this game..." she added with a seductive lick of her lips.

Near every male student filled their minds with the aesthetics of baseball, old people, or whatever else they could think of to desperately avoid getting a hardon on television! For the love of God, woman! They were all wearing tracksuits! There'd be no hiding it! Had she no mercy?!

Then again, she was a dominatrix-themed hero. Fair enough. Stupid question.

"As long as you don't leave the course you're free to do whatever your heart desires!"

So no holds barred. In other words, 'time for the hero course students to immediately weed out all of the other classes'. No restrictions when only two of eleven classes had combat training? Foregone conclusion.

The throngs of students crowded around the starting line, doing their best to find a favourable position. Very few were eager to be at the front, knowing a poor start would probably see them trampled by the 219 people behind them. Saiki himself opted to be towards the back, finding a good spot right as the starting lights started blinking out.

Beep. Beep. Beep. "BEGIN!"

A stampede towards the narrow gate followed by an immediate crush as more than two hundred people jockey for position in a space wide enough for only six. Saiki couldn't be happier for it. If asked, he planned to say he intended it from the start, seeing the trap of the gate before the race even started. In truth he just intended to hang back and let the idiots take the brunt of whatever the organisers had lying in wait. But with the racers stuck in a barely moving, constantly jostling mass he couldn't not take advantage of the situation. Using his well-trained agility, he approached the back of the crowd and leapt over their backs and on top! With them all crushed into such close quarters there was not a thing they could do to stop him from using the crowd as a makeshift floor! Of course he didn't want to look bad. He was a hero course student. So he did his best to kick as few people in the face as possible.

As he reaches the halfway point of the crowd it happened. Bullshit Todoroki did his Todoroki bullshit and froze the surface of the entire tunnel! "It looks like Todoroki has frozen many racers to the ground! That's one hell of a cold open!" Saiki was safe from the ice but it thinned out the crowd enough that he was stuck dealing with the slippery surface same as everyone else. Out of the tunnel. That was all he needed. Get out of the tunnel and the frosty bastard wouldn't be able to slow him down anymore. Dropping from on top of the human carpet he let his body skid along the ice as far as possible before walking with solid, deliberate, flat-footed steps. He made slow but sure progress until he escaped from the tunnel.

His success was bitter though. What he saw on emerging into the light was truly frustrating. The little twerp with his stupid hairballs gaining on Todoroki! Of all people he'd been beaten out of the gate by a gen-ed nobody?! This would not stand!

Six paces! That was all it took to get off of that fucking ice and from there he was back to being one of the fastest people on the hero course! He sprinted full tilt, not willing to get left behind again!

From off to the side, Saiki saw robots like the ones from the entrance exam moving to block the course. The gen-ed twerp didn't see one coming and got cold-cocked by a mass of metal twenty times his size, surely putting the little bastard out of the race for good.

"And we have several students from Class 1-A leading the pack! The frosty Shoto Todoroki, the hot-tempered Bakugo and the speedster Iida blaze ahead of the competition!

Robots? Easy. Only the big ones even gave him a moment's pause and that was just for how best to avoid dealing with them. Big and slow. All it took was climbing onto one and they were be too slow to deal with him before he was off and running past them! None of the little ones even gave his classmates pause. Not great for him since while he was gaining a lot of ground on the leaders they were keeping pace pretty damn well. Even so, he was in the group where he belonged; with the fastest. Todoroki, Bakugo and Iida were ahead while Saiki stayed level with pink girl and- "Izuku!" Saiki exclaimed in surprise at seeing her so far toward the front, for some reason carrying an armour plate from one of the robots.

"Saiki!" she answers.

"Wow, you've gotten way better," he noted, watching her strides that were more like repeated long jumps, "See you at the finish line!"

"Hey wait!"

But he was already gone, sprinting away. In the distance he could see Todoroki and Bakugo battling it out for first place, Iida closer in third making his way across– "Oh, shit, no stopping now!" Saiki exclaimed. Moving far too fast to stop himself before hitting the cliff edge in front of him, he leapt forward, saw the rope lines they were supposed to use to cross the rock platforms. With both hands he reached out and grabbed one as he passed, using his momentum to swing from one to the next to the next, passing Iida as the more serious, bespectacled student took a safer course.

"Looks like 1-A's Saiki Saisei is living up to the name of his quirk! He's making a real comeback with some fancy acrobatics!"

Third place. He was in third place! He could see Katsumi blasting her way forward through the... Minefield! Shit! Well... No! That wasn't so bad! Good eyesight was one of the things he trained so he could see the mines just fine despite his speed. It was just a matter of finding a good path through them. And with Katsumi's bull in a china shop approach, her explosions had partially cleared a path! All he had to do was follow that path as quickly and carefully as he could!

… Wait.

If he could take one of Katsumi's strongest blasts...

Taking a quick glance back to see Iida kicking into high gear again after clearing the rope bridges, Saiki decided to take a risk by tapping a foot on one of the mines.

Boom!

All flash and no substance! Saiki couldn't help but cackle as he landed from being blasted slightly into the air. He took a runner's pose... Ready! Set!

"WOAH! Saisei throws caution to the wind, storming right through the minefield at top speed!"

Boom boom b-boom boom boom! "I'M COMING FOR YOUR ASS, KATSUMI!" Saiki roared as he chased the girl down at top speed!

She looked back, angry grimace on her face as she saw him slowly gaining ground on her! "FUCK OFF, CREEPER!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Our race leaders Todoroki and Bakugo are neck and neck with Saisei slowly gaining ground! Looks like we might get a photo finish here folks!"

The minefield wasn't short. It must have run at least a third of the course. The most tricky hazard, levelling the playing field for those who didn't have an easy way to bypass it. But the few who did just moved further and further ahead–

BOOOOOOOOOM!

If Saiki blinked he would have missed it. But because he didn't he saw Izuku Midoriya soaring past him! Not only past him, past the frontrunners! How the hell did she–! It didn't matter, he told himself! There was nothing for it anymore but to keep running, his own speed, strength and repeated mine detonations propelling him forward!

BOOOOM!

… So that was how she did it. She used the armour plate to protect herself from the explosion and used it to propel her forward. Basically the same thing as Saiki was doing, she just did it in a more efficient way, throwing herself forward with a single blast.

"WOAH! And with that crazy move, dark horse Izuku Midoriya rockets into first place!"

She was well ahead now, no hope for anyone to catch up. Todoroki and Katsumi tried but don't manage it.

The standings after the first round, Izuku in first, Todoroki in second, Katsumi in third, Saiki in fourth.

"Hah, hah," Saiki panted, just a couple of puffs of air as he shook off the adrenaline rush. His tracksuit mostly whole if scorched in some places. He saw Izuku looking overwhelmed by her victory, her clothes looking a little tattered from her trick with the mines. His feelings about that were... Complicated. On the one hand she beat him fair and square and it was pretty impressive how far she had come in so short a time. But at the same time... She beat him. Not just Todoroki who he truly believed he couldn't beat as he was now. And for Katsumi it would be a simple coin flip for who would win a race like this between them. And he could take a little pride in beating Iida who was practically born for this sort of event.

But Izuku? It was yet another blow to his pride in a time that had been full of them. Only a month ago she had been barely struggling to earn her place in the class. And all of a sudden, even if in just this one circumstance, she surpassed him?!

"Ahh Izuku you got first place I'm so jealous!" he heard Uraraka say as he approached the victor.

Be a hero. Be gracious in defeat. "Congratulations, Izuku," he told the girl whose eyes were rimmed with tears even now, offering her a congratulatory handshake.

"Ah, thanks!" she answered as she took his hand, beaming a smile at him.

"The first game is over and what a game it was!" Midnight's voice rang out over the PA system. "Now let's take a look at the standings, shall we?"

1st: Izuku Midoriya

2nd: Shoto Todoroki

3rd: Katsumi Bakugo

4th: Saiki Saisei

5th: Ibara Shiozaki

6th: Juzo Honenuki

7th: Tenya Iida

8th: Fumikage Tokoyami

9th: Hanta Sero

10th: Eijiro Kirishima

On and on the list went, all the way down to 42nd place. There were a couple of surprises on there. Namely the little twerp apparently named Mineta coming in 30th place. Some other gen-ed guy in 26th, and a support course student barely scraping by in 42nd place. But more important than the non-hero students who managed to hang with the hero course were the placings at the top. Notably Iida all the way down in 7th. Two class B students beat him and Saiki didn't know how. That made them people to watch out for.

"Only the top 42 will continue on to the next round. But don't feel too let down if you didn't make the cut. We have other opportunities for you to shine!" Once again the dominatrix heroine's tongue flicked out over her lips. Lucky for the male students they had other things on their minds by this point, too focused on the competition.

The spinning reel reappeared on the main screen. "Now what do we have prepared for you next? Oh, what could it be? The waiting is torture! Prepare yourselves... For this!" The reel stopped on 'Cavalry Battle'.

The rules werefairly straightforward. Teams formed from two to four people, each team given a headband with their point value determined by the team's placement in the race. The only wrinkle... "And the value of the contestant in first place... TEN MILLION!"

Every eye fell on Izuku, looking even smaller and more fragile than ever.

Of course. This was what the hero business was. This was what society in general was. The reward for being at the top? Becoming the target of everyone who isn't. A winner had to keep winning or else be torn down and forgotten.

But for the moment, that was Izuku's problem. Saiki had his own success to worry about. The first instinct was to make a team of four for versatility but a team of that many also needed great coordination or else they would lose mobility. He knew he could carry just about anyone in the competition without even sweating it. If he just took a single person who could attack and steal headbands, someone with a decent score so they wouldn't even have to do much to move ahead– "Saisei."

The sudden interruption of his thoughts came only a couple seconds after the signal to form teams was given. Following the voice, he saw three of the MVPs of these games. Todoroki, Momo and Iida, the speaker being Todoroki himself.

Just seeing that line-up was enough for Saiki to dismiss his own thoughts entirely. "I'm in."