A/N: I am so sorry! Per my schedule, I was supposed to release this yesterday, so here's a belated St Patrick's Day chapter for you!

The Way of the Bat

Chapter VI: Preparing for the Festival

The next day, most of Class A rested up as UA was closed to support the police investigation into the USJ Incident. Izuku on the other hand called one of his classmates and introduced him to Muto Akira, then spent the rest of day training against Blight, as well as villains like Gaia. Surprisingly, Shoto had managed to track him down and asked to join him, saying that he knew Izuku would want a refresher on Blight and wanted to train to fight him as well. The two boys had an amazing time, one that only ended when Fuyumi, Shoto's sister called and told him that he was going to be late for supper. The following morning, Izuku headed into class and found them mostly talking about the news. "Don't let that publicity go to your heads, guys," he warned. "Those who become heroes just to become famous are one of the worst types of hero."

"What do you mean?" Kaminari asked, as he'd been enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame.

"First, they end up with ego problems, which makes it hard for them to work with other heroes. Second, what do you think would happen if they faced an overwhelming threat, like the 0-Pointer from the entrance exam compared to the regular robots? They'd run or quit immediately."

"Ribbit, that sounds about right. Speaking of which, where's Mineta? I thought for sure I'd hear him talking about the news." Everyone looked around, only to see Mineta in his seat and just staring at the blackboard, his eyes completely vacant. "Mineta, are you alright?" Tsu asked. Due to their shared experience at the USJ, she was almost willing to consider him a friend, despite his perviness. Much to her shock though, he only muttered in response.

"So, who do you think is going to be teaching today?" Kirishima asked, partly to distract from the almost nightmare that their classmate had become.

However, before anyone could answer, Iida came bursting into the room, demanding everyone be seated. Izuku laughed at his friend. "Iida, there are three problems right now. First, you were almost late. Second, you're not the class rep or vice rep. Third, and most embarrassing of all, you're the only one not sitting!"

"Young Midoriya is quite right," a familiar voice said as he walked in. "Morning class. I hope you had a good rest yesterday."

"All Might?" the class asked in shock. "But I thought Mr. Aizawa was supposed to be taking over," Shoji said.

"Ah, he was, but his injuries from the USJ were too extensive. Principal Nezu is forcing him to take a leave of absence until he's fully recovered. And no, young Midoriya, I am not telling you how Nezu got him to agree to that." Izuku pouted at that, as he wanted to know what kind of blackmail the mustelid had on the teachers. "Now, before we start the day off properly, I have an announcement: the Sports Festival is happening on schedule." Kirishima was naturally excited about that, but Kaminari stopped him and Jirou asked if that was a good idea. "That's debatable, but the villains weren't at the USJ to attack you, and most of the staff see it as a way to show that our security is stronger than ever. There are also going to be more pros handling security than previous years. In any case, the Sports Festival is a huge opportunity for you. The internships you could receive due to your performance will be the first step to going from a mere hero student to a sidekick or even a pro. One chance a year, three chances in a lifetime, it's not something that can just be cancelled, or missed. As such, you better believe I'll be stepping up your training." The class groaned at that, outside of Shoto, Izuku, Kirishima and Bakugou, all of whom were looking forward to the intensified training.

"Sir, before you go, are support items allowed?" Kaminari asked. Everyone perked up at that, eager to learn Izuku's fate.

"Yes, but only under one of two conditions. First, the item you're using is something you made yourself, it's one of the ways the Support Class is able to benefit from the Festival, as they can show off their skills or even transfer into the Hero Course. The second option is to fill out this paperwork for each device you use, explaining what it is and how you use it. Midnight handles all the paperwork, so if you do intend to use a support item, you'll need to talk to her about it." Everyone gave an evil grin aimed at Izuku, who just smiled in response.

By the time lunch rolled around, everyone was talking about the Sports Festival, even those who had been hesitant about it. Even Iida was excited, in his own way. Uraraka on the other hand was showing an intensity that was very unlike her, and dragged everyone else along with her, including shy Koda. It was so unlike her that Izuku decided to ask her about it. "Okay, what's going on, Uraraka? Why are you so fired up for the Sports Festival?"

Uraraka hesitated before answering. "Well, because it's the first step to my dream." She stopped there, but Iida and Izuku's stares forced her to continue. "I got into heroics for the money. I know it's not as noble as you two, but that's what it boils down to. You see, my family owns a construction company, but we haven't been getting as much work lately. So I want to sign with a good agency and make plenty of money so my parents can live easy lives."

Izuku was … confused to say the least. What kind of construction company couldn't get work in a superhuman society, where almost every clash between heroes and villains resulted in property damage? And how would she stand when things inevitably came crashing down? The Bat family had known for years that, as much good as All Might had done, the real result of his success was to turn Japan into a pressure cooker. Most of the villains hadn't been captured, they'd just gone underground, and when he fully retired, the lid was going to come off, and Japan would explode. Everyone was convinced that many heroes would give up when that happened, the only real question was who, if any would remain. The rest of the world managed to find a balance between keeping the peace and letting criminals blow off steam.

Unfortunately, the questions would have to wait, as Shoto started lunch by asking him a question. "What exactly did you do to Mineta yesterday?"

"I didn't do anything to him, what makes you think I did?" Izuku answered, mostly telling the truth.

"He came by your house, then you took him somewhere else," Shoto claimed. Izuku stared, silently demanding to know how he knew that. The bi-colored boy blushed before admitting "I was outside your home at the time because I wasn't sure how to approach you."

"Well, I introduced him to my sister."

"You have a sister?!" Most of the class asked in shock. "Why didn't we know this before?" Momo asked.

"Well, we have only known each other for about a week, so we haven't exactly had time to get to know each other," Izuku pointed out. "We could talk about our families over lunch and after the day's ended if you want." When everyone agreed to that idea, Izuku started off. "Since this whole thing started because of my sister, I'll go first. By blood, I only have my parents, and I haven't seen my dad in years, not since he got into a fight with All Might."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Jirou asked. "What do you mean your dad got into a fight with All Might?"

"Because he's a supervillain, obviously. The supervillain, actually. If you fight him and come out alive, you could easily consider yourself top tier. But I'm sure my dad will come up later. This is who you're really interested in: my sister. She's not related to me by blood, but we consider each other siblings nonetheless. We started training at the same time, often trained together, and quickly became the best of friends. Our teachers even teased us about becoming a couple, but that's never going to happen," Izuku said.

"Why not? Is she not pretty enough for you?" Kaminari asked.

"Please, Akira's gorgeous, it's just that she's also terrifying," Izuku replied. "Here, this is her with me and my mother," he said as he pulled out his phone.

The second Izuku said Akira's name, Mineta woke up from his trauma-induced daze and charged at the other boy. "WHY?! Why did you deliver me to that, that … monster?! Do you have any idea what kind of tortures she put me through?!"

Izuku gave a savage grin as he replied. "Oh, I know exactly the kind of things she put you through, Mineta. I know, because she described the things she was getting into two years ago, and because I told her to use everything she'd learned on you. You see, I realized something about you, Mineta: you're a pervert, and unless someone did something about you, you'd either become a hero in name only due to your treatment of women, or you'd be murdered and no one would care. I figured a session or two with Akira would either cure you or you'd quit being a hero. Either way, I'm doing the country a favor." Mineta shattered to hear someone he'd started to consider a friend speak to him like that and walked back to where his lunch had been.

"Damn, Midoriya, did you need to be so harsh?" Kirishima asked.

"Tsu, tell them what he said he wanted to do before he died." As soon as she did so, everyone immediately sided with Izuku. To break the obvious tension, Izuku started talking about his mother, which lead others to talk about their families. Shoto told them of his two siblings, while Asui told them of her many siblings.

When the day ended, a large crowd had gathered outside of 1-A, all hoping to get a glimpse of them. Bakugou riled them up, only for a student who looked like he needed a good nights' sleep to insult them. "Is everyone in the hero course delusional or is it just you?"

"Please, Kacchan's not delusional, he's just determined," Izuku stated. "Then again, who here isn't? After all, we all made it into UA, didn't we? What's wrong with being determined to reach your dreams?"

"Well, I have a dream of my own. You see, like many other students here, I wanted to get in the hero course, but I was forced to choose a different path. The Sports Festival offers us a second chance. If any of us do well in the festival, the teachers can decide to transfer us to the hero course. And of course, they'll have to transfer people out to make room. Consider this my declaration of war, especially on the one who's supposed to be quirkless. You're who I'm gunning after first."

"Challenge accepted," Izuku replied with a smirk.

"No way you're actually quirkless," a blond proclaimed. "Let's find out what your quirk is! Give me your hand!" he demanded.

"Okay, but I should warn you, I've gone through every test imaginable," Izuku replied. The blond, whom Izuku thought was one Monoma Neito from B grabbed his hand, only to immediately freeze.

"Hey, Monoma, are you okay?" a silver haired boy asked. Monoma didn't respond, even when the other boy waved his hand in front of Monoma's eyes. Finally, he slapped the blond.

That woke him up. "Tetsu, what's going on?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that. I thought you came here to check on the rumored quirkless kid."

"I did. Give me your hand!" he demanded again.

Izuku did so, only for Monoma to freeze again, and Tetsu to slap him out of it. This went on for several more rounds, during which many of the other students started filming the events. Eventually Shoto said "Midoriya, I think you broke him."

That time when Monoma woke up, Tetsu had taken a picture of him taking Izuku's hand. "What? But I don't remember that, and I don't feel anything! Nothing, not even a blank! Is something wrong with my quirk?" After that, Monoma went crazy, touching everyone he could, while A just took the opportunity to leave, now that the show was over.

"Did you have to make everyone hate us?" Kirishima asked Bakugou a few minutes later.

"They don't matter," the blond replied. "All that matters is that we beat them and make it to the top. Once we're pros, we can't worry about how we're doing in the polls or who considers us their rivals. All we need to worry about is being the best hero we can be, right? Same principle here, nothing matters but how we perform."

One week later, and everyone had been giving it their all in training, and out of class training as well. Several had taken Shoto's example and asked to train at the Batman Inc site, while others trained in the official UA training grounds. Izuku was taking one of his scheduled break days when Mineta burst in. "Midoriya, you know how to pick locks, right? Teach me!"

Izuku didn't even look up from his paperwork, putting one piece in a teleporter, and receiving one in return. "No chance. Now, what's next … ah, the electric batarang."

"Why not?!" Mineta asked.

"Because I know what you'd do with it if I did teach you," Izuku responded while filling out the paperwork. "Wait, was that in his second year, or was it third year?" he muttered to himself. He turned to the computer to investigate the records, just to be certain.

"Then could you pick the lock?"

"No, and for two reasons. First, I know what you want unlocked, and I'm not going to unlock it. I agree with why it was locked, and I'm not going to go against my sister. Second, I don't even want to glimpse it, and knowing Akira, she might well have picked one where I'd have to. Now, get out of here," he said, putting that piece of paper in the teleporter and receiving the next. "Next, the grapple gun."