Master was having Tomura do a special task today. It had been over two weeks since his miserable failure, and he was worried that Master may have been disappointed but here he was, sitting in front of a screen and watching the UA Sports Festival — a special task that nobody else got to do for Master. He'd been told to take notes on any of the Quirks that interested him, which was a weird task to do. Why would he be looking specifically at Quirks, and not the people using them or something? While Tomura was mostly set to see if any powers were used that interested him, whatever that meant, he was also going to be looking out for the assholes who bested him during his last mission. That purple haired kid and the multi-Quirked bastard were at the top of his list. That one with the explosion power had also gotten good hits in, so he was on the list as well. Those three were fucking dead if Tomura ever ran into them again. Maybe he'd make sure they did just for the satisfaction of watching them crumble under him.

So, there Tomura was. He was watching the stupid, drawn out opening ceremony in his room. It was boring, and didn't really demand his interest, especially the host who was trying too hard to be sexy. Tomura wished she'd just get on with the show already. He absently scratched the scar on his forearm, wishing that he could just fast-forward through all this boring shit. But, to Tomura's annoyance, this was live. When the host finally stopped her thinly-veiled flirting with various audience members, she finally got started with the reason everyone was watching.

"Now, welcoming you to this years' Sports Festival, Izuku Midoriya of Class-1A and Itsuka Kendo of Class-1B!" she said, moving out of the way so that two kids could get up on stage with her.

The two kids that got up were fairly plain looking. One was a girl, with orange hair and green eyes. The other also had … that was the fucker right there . Tomura pulled the screen closer to his face to get a better look at the kid, very carefully leaving a finger off for each hand so that he didn't lose his chance, and was able to confirm to himself that this was the kid who'd almost killed him . Tomura felt a raw scream tear itself out of his throat as he kept his eyes on the little asshole who'd put him into a week long coma from a single punch. The boy, Izuku Midoriya, apparently, smiled to the audience like he hadn't punted Tomura into next week — literally — just a few days ago. Tomura leaned back and almost ripped the page of his notebook with how fast he wrote down the kid's name, class and appearance. If the Festival gave that much information on the Hypnotic Hero and Explodo-Bitch, then Tomura was in luck.

As Tomura finished writing down everything he could about the boy on screen, he actually listened to what he was saying. It seemed as if, in looking at the camera that was recording him, the bastard was staring right at Tomura, and it made his ears go red and made Tomura stop breathing for a moment out of the sheer burning hatred that he held for the little fucker.

"I want you to know something; we aren't traumatized. We're motivated," the kid said, smiling like he was some little boy scout that hadn't tried to cave Tomura's skull in two weeks ago.

Tomura let another scream loose, his voice cracking and breaking. Now the bastard was taunting him ? Heroes were usually aggravating, but it was always the holier than thou attitude they carried around while they were up on their high-horses that pissed Tomura off. This kid, though, he was actually going out of his way to fucking taunt him . He wasn't even trying to hide it, either! Tomura felt his grip closing tighter on his pencil, but he did nothing about it. He felt his breath accelerating, and his chest grow tighter. His throat felt like it had been bitten by a thousand mosquitoes. Tomura needed relief!

As he dropped his pencil, the remains falling to his desk as a pile of dust, Tomura scratched at his neck. His nails dragged over his skin, soothing the desire deep in his heart to hurt and destroy. He couldn't do that here, though; Master would be mad at Tomura if he destroyed anything he'd so lovingly donated to make the bar feel more like a home for his disciple. So, Tomura settled for hurting himself to satisfy that craving for destruction. It was no skin off his back to do so, technically because it was skin off his throat, but whatever. Tomura wasn't one for overly complex metaphors, they just ended up confusing and irritating him. It was times like these, when he dug a little too far into his throat while itching, the Tomura wished he had a healing Quirk like Master. He'd been the one to heal Tomura while he was unconscious with one of his many powers, but Tomura wished that he could just have one of his own so that he didn't have to burden Master with the responsibility of keeping him healthy. Tomura went and cleaned his hands, because it was as Master said; cleanliness is next to godliness, and they were the closest things to God that existed among men, so they must keep themselves presentable at all times.

When Tomura sat back in his seat, the first event had started. It seemed like just barely, because all of the UA brats were just exiting a tunnel that led out from where they were standing before. Some kid with red and white hair was out in front, followed closely by the kid who made explosions. Tomura quickly noted down what he could about that asshole, as he would likely be a powerful enemy if they crossed paths again. The first event of the Festival looked to be an obstacle course with loads of over the tops obstacles like hordes of robots and a minefield. Tomura scoffed at UA's willingness to spend all that money on worthless shit when they could've spent it any other way and be better off for it.

As the kids swarmed out of the tunnel, the kid with red and white hair made it so that the floor all behind him was suddenly covered in ice that kept whoever was caught in it, which was almost everyone, stuck in place. Ice powers were good, but Tomura hadn't seen that guy when he'd attacked UA, so he probably wasn't noteworthy. He put it down just as 'Ice', and left it. It seemed like a guy who was swinging around on sticky tape that he made from his own body was in third, but that was gross, so Tomura didn't note any of that nastiness down. Then, because of course he would, the multi-Quirked dickhead soared out from the tunnel and fucked over the kid in third place in order to shoot out ahead. Tomura growled, but managed to keep himself under control.

Some annoying guy complained about one class taking the lead early on, which meant that the kid with ice powers was at the attack, too. He'd likely been somewhere else during the whole fight in the plaza, but he was likely powerful if he was surpassing and keeping up with the explosion boy and Midoriya . Tomura wrote 'in the dickhead class' next to the note for 'Ice'. Then, the voice of Eraserhead caught Tomura's attention, talking about how his class had faced evil, but had beaten it back. Yeah, right. That shit was mostly Midoriya so those extras should keep dreaming.

As the top three moved along the course, it looked like Midoriya was making his steps longer than they should've been. Tomura had learned how to move from people with speed Quirks, that's how he had gotten so fast. The key to moving fast was to not focus on what was going to happen, but what was happening. If you were always focusing on the next steps, you'd miss the one you needed to get to those others, and then the whole thing was fucked. That's how the people Master had hired to teach him had explained it to him, anyway. This guy, Midoriya, seemed like he was focusing on the next steps. Tomura noted that down as 'overthinker'.

As the three of them approached the first obstacle, the aforementioned horde of robots, it seemed that a small rivalry was sparked between first, second and third place. Tomura smiled at that, knowing it would make them show him everything they could do if they were fighting their hardest against each other . He loved how these fuckers were just giving him everything he needed without even realizing it.

They got through the first obstacle quickly enough. The explosion kid just flew through and over the stage, making Tomura laugh. The ice kid froze one of the building sized robots solid in an instant, which Tomura took note of with a smile. Midoriya slingshotted himself over one of the big robots and flew over the obstacle entirely, much like his explosion making friend. Tomura wasn't sure if those two were actually friends, but he'd noticed some kind of bond between them when they'd fought together against him during his attack. That was something he noted as well.

Midoriya caught up to the ice kid and they spoke to each other, but the cameras couldn't pick up what they were saying. While that was happening, Tomura looked for the purple haired kid that had controlled him during the attack. He couldn't find him, which made Tomura frown and spit out mumbled curses at the screen, but he refocused on Midoriya without much issue.

The first event went mostly similar to the first obstacle, with a challenge being presented and the three leaders coming up with creative uses of their Quirks to deal with it. They were smart, Tomura would give them that. But, he was also seeing everything they were doing, and they couldn't hide even the small intricacies with so many cameras watching them.

There was a brief snippet in the middle of the race, however, that caught Tomura's attention. Midoriya stopped in the air, seemingly looking at something that wasn't there. Green lightning, which soon turned to black and red lightning, the same as Master's, arced around him and lashed out at any flying participants that got close. It didn't hurt anyone, but it sure spooked them, and Tomura wondered what that meant. Master had told everyone that he'd be conducting some important business today, and he wondered if this was it. He'd taken a strange interest in Midoriya when Tomura had explained his multiple Quirks, so maybe he was dealing with him before Tomura could. Was he going to kill Midoriya? That was Tomura's fight! He deserved to turn the brat to dust!

This only lasted for a moment, however, as Midoriya quickly fell to the ground as the lightning went away and he seemingly passed out for a moment. He seemed to be shaken, but not so hurt that he couldn't continue, which was exactly what he did seconds later. Tomura was glad he'd still have his chance, but it left a sour taste in his mouth that Master had stepped on his toes like that. He didn't resent Master for it, because of course he could do what he wanted, but it did make Tomura feel something that he wasn't sure that he'd felt before. That was confusing, so he left it there and moved on.

The rest of the race went like he expected, with Midoriya pulling out a clutch move at the very end to get first place, the blond boy coming second and raging about it and the ice kid coming third and acting like he didn't care about it all. Tomura decided to properly organize his notes on the obstacle course during the small break the participants of the Festival got. Kurogiri had taught Tomura that a good report, such as the one he was compiling now, could be read by anyone and everyone who read it would understand it perfectly. Tomura didn't often do research assignments like this, but when he did, he made sure to do it perfectly, like everything he did for Master.

The second event was fairly average, with Tomura learning the names of the two other noteworthy kids from the race; Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki, and putting them down in his notes officially. Tomura turned another pencil to dust when he saw the purple haired kid leading his own team. Grabbing another pencil, Tomura listened carefully for his name and smiled widely as he was announced as Hitoshi Shinso. Nothing that down in his book, Tomura now knew all the names of his most hated UA brats. This was wonderful! Tomura felt the electrifying satisfaction of seeing Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo and Hitoshi Shinso all written down in his notebook. It was a wave of euphoria that washed over him, a feeling almost better than the sweet, subtle pain that scratching brought to him.

Tomura cackled for a good few minutes, working off the energy that he'd built up in his revelations, but that bliss was drained out of him in an instant when Midoriya launched himself into the air, like he had during the race, and began to emit the same dark lightning that he had before. Master was attacking him again ? Tomura saw that he was in pain, and wondered what Master was doing to him. It wasn't nearly as satisfying to watch him in pain if he wasn't the one causing it! Tomura wanted to be the one to watch him crumble under his boot, turning to ash as he died a slow, agonizing death for what he'd done to him, what he'd caused. Every time Tomura looked in a mirror, the reminder of Izuku Midoriya's brutal attack on him were screaming out for attention, and now he wanted nothing more than to squash that little fucker like the insect he was. It seemed that Master wanted that for himself, though, and who was he to question Master's will?

It went on for a few minutes, but Master's influence on Midoriya eventually faded. He snapped out of it and fell to the ground, Bakugo being the one to save him from falling to his death. A smile crept onto his face as the trio of outstanding students readied themselves for a brawl. Midoriya and Todoroki clashed, a torrent of fire releasing from the former's body, making Tomura stare at him in shock and awe. Ice and fire wasn't just okay . That was a top-tier Quirk that even someone like Master would take a vested interest in. Tomura noted it down as a revision to Todoroki's Quirk that he could create and manipulate both fire and ice.

It seemed that the Todoroki kid was appalled at himself for using his fire, and Tomura wondered why he'd hide such a fantastic ability. Maybe it was to intimidate, psych the other kids out by flexing on those losers with only half his power. Maybe it was a challenge to himself. Maybe he was lying to people about how his Quirk worked and wanted to keep it on the downlow that he could do two things. Maybe … he was the sleeper that Master had in UA. Fire and ice didn't seem to naturally blend, so maybe he'd started off with just ice and then Master had gifted him with fire for his service. That would make sense; the boy seemed to be less naturally inclined to use the fire he'd had the whole time, so it would track that the fire itself was new to him. Maybe.

The second event ended with Midoriya coming out on top again, with Bakugo and Todoroki in second and third place once more. Tomura laughed to himself, getting the feeling that this pattern extended to their school and personal lives. He felt the furious energy pouring off Bakugo as he went to attack Midoriya but stopped himself. The look the two gave each told of countless instances of this happening before, and Tomura noted it down. That one had a little black mark on his white, Heroic clothes. That was good to know.

The Festival went on a break after that. Tomura wanted to go over his notes, but Kurogiri forced him into coming out into the bar to eat something and stretch his legs. Tomura quickly ate, periodically stopping to rant to Kurogiri about how bullshit it was that Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki had multiple Quirks. Tomura wanted more than one power as well, but Master wouldn't let him have one. He'd known about Master's power to confiscate and gift Quirks since he was young, but Tomura had never been on the receiving end of that power. Tomura had begged and pleaded to Master for another Quirk, but he'd simply responded with 'not now'. Whatever that meant. Physical constitution was a common talking point between Master and the Doctor when discussing the Nomu, so was Tomura too weak to receive a Quirk from Master's power? Was it that Master didn't think he deserved one? Tomura was brought out of his thinking by Kurogiri alerting him to the fact that the Festival was starting once again.

When Tomura got back to his seat, he saw that the final event of the Festival was a tournament, where the remaining competitors would fight each other, one on one, to the top. This was more Tomura's style, and he excitedly looked at the brackets, only to find that Midoriya, the brat who had given him the warped face he wore now, and Shinso, that mind-controlling freak that had stopped him from doing anything for most of his own attack on UA, were going head to head with each other in the first round. This was going to be so awesome! The mindfreak and the multi-Quirked abomination fighting each other in the first round ? This Sports Festival was shaping up to be something amazing.

Tomura was still getting comfortable in his seat again when title cards explaining the two fighters' Quirks popped up. How stupid to legitimately explain how their Quirks worked. Sure, it worked as a frame of reference as to who's Quirk was better suited to the fight so that the audience could have some idea of stakes and power levels, but it was so easy for people like Tomura, who planned on using these explanations to aid his revenge against these brats in the future, to see these and get ideas. UA really was shooting itself in the foot with this thing. Tomura could benefit from it, so he wasn't really that fussed in the long run, but he was smart enough to see the flaw in the way the Festival was held.

As the two brats faced each other down, the host called for the fight to begin. Tomura watched closely, but nothing happened. It seemed like they were both just standing still, but then Shinso started talking, and Tomura perked up at actually being able to understand what he was saying. It seemed like the rectangular stage they were using for the fights had microphones hidden along the edges or something like that.

Shinso said something about All Might's expectations in Midoriya, which piqued Tomura's interest. What could he have meant by that? Did those two have a connection beyond having protected each other during Tomura's attack? That immediately went into his notes, but Tomura didn't stop thinking about it. What kind of connection could All Might have in this little kid? Maybe it had something to do with his multiple Quirks, but … no, that was crazy. All Might couldn't have given this kid his Quirk , right? That just wasn't something anybody but Master could do. Master had described All Might as his antithesis, the opposite of everything he was, everything he stood for and everything he did. The strength that kid had shown off did seem way too powerful for someone his age to wield. It certainly could have come from All Might, if he was the complete opposite of Master. If Master was able to take Quirks and do with them what he pleased, maybe All Might was able to do the opposite. A single question was put down at the bottom of the page, in small lettering. Could All Might give away his strength?

Shinso seemed to say something else, but Tomura hadn't been paying attention. It seemed to affect Midoriya in a way the comment about All Might hadn't, because it got him to respond to whatever it was. That was when Midoriya's whole body seemed to relax, all the tension that had been held in his muscles was released and he stood still, emotionless; almost like a Nomu but too human to give off the same vibe. He stood there for a few moments while Shinso seemed to gloat, saying how respectable but ultimately dumb it was to lose for his friends' sake. That was going in the notes.

Another thing that Tomura noticed was that Midoriya had only fallen under Shinso's control when he'd spoken, so was it replying in any way that Shinso could hear that did it, or was it more or less specific? Tomura put down in his notes that the trigger was uncertain, but tied to speech. As he did, Tomura found himself exhausted. He didn't usually spend this long purely focused on learning, let alone watching his enemies show off for a whole day. It was tiring, but it would be worth it once he got his chance to go at them one more time. Tomura would be ready when he faced these bastards again, and he'd win.

Midoriya walked almost to the edge of the stage, but it looked like his movements stuttered in a way. Then, all hell broke loose with the black energy tendril things erupting out of his body, Master's lightning flickering around the smoky limbs that sprouted from Midoriya's arm. The tendrils pushed him into the air, ramming into the ground and flooding the stage around where he'd been launched from. The tendrils almost immediately recognized Shinso, pausing for a moment when getting near him, before pushing him off onto the ground below the stage and then immediately retreating into their user's body. Tomura thought it looked more like a defense mechanism rather than a wild attack, but that may have just been him. He noted it down, anyway; energy tendrils seem aware in some way .

Midoriya was announced as the winner, and the fights came and went quickly after that. Nothing really noteworthy happened, with Todoroki wrecking his opponent and Bakugo doing the same. Neither of them faced much opposition, and that was probably nothing new for them. Tomura hated those kinds of guys; people who just coasted on the small amount of raw talent they had, never really trying and still getting to be the best. It was why he hated All Might, too. All Might seemed like he wasn't even trying when he beat everyone he ever faced, and cracked jokes while fighting enemies nobody else could even fight, let alone beat in a single punch. It was like everything was staged, and he was aware of that. It was irritating to the highest degree.

The next round was a little interesting, since the first round would have been Midoriya versus Todoroki. But, for some reason, Midoriya, the little shit, dropped out of the tournament. They said it was for medical reasons, but Tomura called bullshit on that. He was taunting Tomura again, he knew it! That little asshole had shown him a taste of what just one of his Quirks could do at full power, letting him know that he'd gone easy when they'd fought , just to refuse to go on anymore. This was fucking rigged! Izuku Midoriya knew what he was doing. Tomura was going to fucking annihilate that little shithead.

Tomura couldn't take this shit anymore. He slammed his hands down on the desk, turning it into nothing but flecks of dust with his Quirk. He threw his chair back when standing up just to drop to his knees and viciously beat the dust into his floor, screaming into the remains of his desk as his voice began to give out from the repeated screaming he'd been powering through. When his hands began to hurt, Tomura looked up from the pushed around pile of what was once wood and saw that the screen that had been displaying the Festival for him had fallen to the ground and cracked, but still worked.

He saw Izuku Midoriya's face, pretending to be nervous for the camera, and declared to himself that if he ever saw that kid again, he wouldn't waste a second in even explaining why he hated him. Tomura would just murder that fucking brat. That, he swore.