"It's so early."

"I know," Izuku winced, adjusting his bag strap, "I feel like I got no sleep."

Katsumi snorted, "You and me both."

The sun was still low in the sky as the pair walked to school from the station. It was a little inconvenient to meet up at the station, which was why normally they wouldn't, but today was special.

"I probably should have watched more videos of previous festivals," Katsumi thought aloud as they climbed the hill up to UA.

Izuku gasped at her, "You haven't watched any before?"

"No-" Katsumi said quickly, sensing a big recounting of the history of UA Sports Festivals. "I've watched my dad's old ones, and you've shown me clips before, remember?"

"Oh yeah! I have, haven't I?"

Katsumi sighed in relief.

The weather was kind of chilly, though the sky was almost cloudless, Katsumi guessed it would only get warmer. She was ready for summer, but if warm weather could just hold off this one day so she wouldn't be sweating like a pig on live TV she'd be forever grateful.

"I feel so unprepared," Izuku said suddenly.

Katsumi shook her head, "No way, c'mon you trained hard as hell, you'll be fine."

"It's just," his lips were pulled down into a frown as he looked at the ground, "All Might told me this was my moment to debut to the world, I can't mess up, and I still get injured from my quirk so…"

Great, she had been avoiding thinking about that. The embarrassing outburst she had during the battle training was not something she could repeat. Watching Izuku get hurt and not doing anything, she'd be fine with that now, right? From what she had seen from prior Sports Festivals, it was a pretty individualistic event, she had to look out for herself, not worry about Izuku. If he collapsed on the floor, arms broken, she'd have to ignore it. Real heroic.

"It's a shame you can't regenerate."

"Haha!" Izuku rubbed his neck, "Like that Nomu thing?"

Katsumi bit her cheek. She meant to regenerate like she could.

Had she ever actually said to anyone she could do that? It wasn't like it was a secret, it could be easily attributed to her quirk, Katsumi wasn't even sure that it wasn't her quirk. No, it was her quirk, but it was that he had messed with her genes to give her an unconscious regeneration ability. Theoretically, without his meddling she could say, regrow a limb after having it served off, but it would be like when she created new cells to elongate her arms or whatnot, it would be temporary, a conscious thing she had to keep up.

Her parents just thought of it as part of her quirk. They had only seen her body mend small scrapes of bruises after all. Had she ever gotten around to telling Izuku about that ability? Did it matter? If she made a big deal about telling anyone it would look weird, though of course no one had any suspicion about an ability-thieving monster out there. No one would assume the regeneration was another quirk, or anything similar. Unless they actually saw the other quirk she had.

No, it was fine. It was just part of her quirk, there was no reason for anyone to assume it wasn't. Her body would always return to its original form, and that included if something was taken.

"Don't worry," Katsumi said to Izuku, but she was half talking to herself too. "About how you do in the festival, that is. I know you care about it but at the end of the day, it's to get an internship right? You don't have to impress any heroes, my dad's in your corner."

"Is that what you're telling yourself?"

"Huh?" Katsumi's brow furrowed and she turned to properly Izuku, who stared at her innocently.

"You gonna slack off because you'll just intern with your dad?" He asked.

"Huh?" Katsumi sweated, "No! Course not, I don't want to make him look bad so of course I'll try!"

Not too hard though, her quirk could easily be dangerous, she was going to have to hold back. It wasn't that she was slacking off, she just didn't fancy slicing someone's head off. Punches and kicks were enough.

"You should try hard." Izuku smiled, "You have no idea who's watching!"

"Huh?"

Who's watching? The whole of Japan, a good deal of people outside too. Her old American friends. Heroes, villains. God, it was kinda scary.

Tomura probably would too.

"Ah," Izuku suddenly gasped, covering his mouth. He quickly looked away, "Anyway, yeah you must be worried! Seeing as the public knows that one of the students in 1-A is All Might kid I mean, do they know you're a girl? I mean it won't be too hard to figure out who it is by looks-"

"They're gonna say it in the commentary," Katsumi interrupted her expression blank, still half-lost in her thoughts. "Banana hair teacher, President Mic or whatever he's called."

"Really?" Izuku blinked, "You okay with that?"

"Yeah, Dad said it was better to reveal it on our own terms rather than some villain doing something…" he was talking about Tomura, though he didn't say it, "President Mic said he'd do it casually so-"

"Present Mic."

Katsumi turned to Izuku, "What?"

"His name's Present Mic," he grinned a little sheepishly, "sorry I didn't correct you the first time because I thought you just misspoke."

President… did she say that?

Katsumi's mouth gaped.

"Really!? Oh shit! Have I been calling him President Mic this whole time?!"

"I don't think so?!" Izuku shook his head, "I hadn't noticed."

Good god, Katsumi was tired.

"Haha…" she rubbed her face, "I need breakfast."

Izuku laughed, patting her on the shoulder, "Do you wanna go get something at the shop?"

Katsumi's face flushed as she felt the hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, mhm."

"Is everyone good and ready?" Iida shouted out to the students as they chattered amongst themselves. "Everyone been to the toilet?! Our first event is about to begin!"

"I just wish could have worn my costume," a tall boy with multiple arms- Shoji lamented.

"Me too." Katsumi sighed, crossing her legs.

Momo nodded besides her, "We are allowed to remove items if we need to though."

"Oh yeah, I'll take my shoes off first chance."

"Huh," Kaminari gawked, "why's that?"

"Oh, well-"

"All Might's got his eye on you, doesn't he?"

The mention of her father's name cut through the rest of the chatter in the prep room. Katsumi turned around. On the other side of the room, Todoroki stood in front of Izuku, a serious look etched into his face.

"Now, I'm not trying to pry into why that is, but, I will beat you."

Katsumi's brow furrowed.

"Ooh!" Sero smirked, "A declaration of war from the strongest in class!"

"Woah woah woah." Katsumi looked around at the people sitting at the table, "Strongest? Has that been proven?" Katsumi felt all of a sudden very offended, surely she was stronger than icy-boy over there? Or at least it wasn't cut and dry, he wasn't the undeniable king of the class. Her gaze landed on Bakugou for a moment, the look on his face could kill.

Kirishima came up behind Todoroki, trying to place a hand on his shoulder, "Hey man why pick a fight now? We're just about to-"

"I really don't care," he said, brushing Kirishima off, "I'm not trying to be anyone's friend here."

"Hey, scar-boy," Katsumi stood up from her chair and walked towards him. "You picking a fight with him because of All Might? If it's All Might you're trying to beat in some weird way, why go to Izuku and not me?"

Todoroki turned to her, he looked at her with an expression of complete disinterest.

"Why not you? It goes without saying, I'll beat you too," his eyes narrowed. "But you clearly have no interest in this, there's no reason to bother myself with you."

Katsumi pulled back slightly.

"Alright then," she responded, though he seemed done with the conversation already.

No interest? She supposed he wasn't totally wrong. Why had he noticed that though?

"Woah! Katsumi you gonna take that?" Kirishima looked offended on her behalf.

"It's fine."

"Todoroki," Izuku spoke up, Katsumi almost forgot he was there, "I don't know what you're thinking when you say you'll beat me, but of course, you're better than me. I think you're more capable than most people looking at it objectively."

Katsumi felt in the way, she wished she hadn't got out of her chair to begin with.

"Midoriya, you probably shouldn't talk so negatively-" Kirishma frowned.

"But, everyone- The students from the other courses are aiming for the top with everything they've got! Lemme say this, I am not going to fall behind," Izuku had that determined expression on his face again. "I'll be going for it with everything I have too."

Todoroki stared at him, "Right."

Todoroki was right, Katsumi really didn't care about any of this.

So the sports festival was finally starting. It had been a long build-up, Katsumi pretending to care. She'd been called out on it, there was no point hiding it any longer. She had been more preoccupied with other things, but now, she had to push that away and focus. All the training she'd forced herself to do was for today, she wasn't frightened, or nervous, she knew she would do good enough, she was ready.

All Might's daughter, that's who she was today. She wouldn't let him down, she'd show him…

Show him what?

The thought was incomplete.

She wondered if Tomura was watching.

Or… if that man was.

"Hey, Katsumi."

Katsumi turned to see Momo beside her as they waited to be called to walk out. She smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"Good luck!"

"...You too."

"I'll show you how much I've learned from you."

Oh yeah, the training they had done together. She had done her best to improve Momo's fighting, she could certainly hold her own… Katsumi hoped she had been as helpful to her as she had to Katsumi.

"Everyone quiet!" Iida called out over the crowd from the front of the group, straining a whisper as to not be too loud. "Don't talk as we come out!"

"Yes sir!" Mina whisper-shouted back.

Momo waved goodbye and joined Iida at the front, they were the class representatives, so it made sense. Katsumi was on the side, quite far from anyone else. But she'd rather be right at the back… She shuffled backwards slightly.

Bump.

Katsumi blinked as she made contact with something solid, she turned around to apologise, but her expression turned sour as soon as she did so.

"Oh. It's you."

Bakugou's red eyes glared right at her.

Red eyes.

Katsumi frowned. He really was pretty up close, sculpted face, sharp eyes, and intimidating glare. She knew that already, he had a nice physique too… But she had never been so close to him… actually… she was really close…

Shit.

Katsumi felt her cheeks go red.

Bakugou's face scrunched up, "What's wrong with you?"

She stepped back, crossing her arms.

They hadn't really been at UA for all that long, but she'd already built up a sort-of-relationship with Bakugou just though bullying each other. Katsumi saw hit as retribution for the time he spent being a dick to Izuku. He could probably guess that was the reason too, it was clear he didn't like her one bit, not like she could blame him. Katsumi didn't hate him though, she couldn't…

"Nothing's wrong with me," she giggled. Bakugou looked at her with a mixture of annoyance and disdain. Katsumi quite liked the expression. "You excited to get destroyed?"

She still disliked him in general though, beating him up would be fun.

Bakugou's brow furrowed, "You delusional?"

"I'll beat your ass."

His brow furrowed further. "I'll destroy your ass," he shot back, trying to one-up her.

Katsumi stared at him.

"That's forward," she said blankly.

It took him a moment, but when it did, the split second when his eyes widened and mouth gaped open was a sight to behold. Too bad his face immediately hardened into an angry scowl.

"Bitch-!"

"Bakugou!" Iida called out from the front, "Quiet! And don't use that language!"

Katsumi tried to hold it in, she did really, but in only two seconds flat she was laughing hysterically in Bakugou's angry face.

"Katsumi!"

Momo's disapproving voice barely reached Katsumi's ears. Katsumi continued to laugh as she turned away from the seething blonde boy and stumbled over to Mina, collapsing into a fit of giggles on her back.

"What happened?" Mina asked, turning her head.

Katsumi had tears streaming down her face, still laughing.

"Shut it!" Bakugou purposely pushed Katsumi, and as a consequence, Mina, as he passed, making his way to the front.

"Oi!" Mina shouted after him.

"Ribbit?" Tsu cocked her head, turning to Katsumi from her spot beside Mina, "What did you do?"

Katsumi didn't get a chance to answer, not like she could, she was still laughing. She caught a glimpse of Izuku, his head was turned to look at her. He smiled.

"Everyone quiet!" Momo called out, "They're about to call us out!"

"Do you best everyone," Iida called out, pumping a fist in the air, "Go beyond-"

"PLUS ULTRA!"

"What a crowd!"

Katsumi kept to the back of the group as the class walked out into the light of the stage. From the other tunnels came the other classes. Oh yeah, didn't Bakugou declare war on them or something by being an asshole, didn't he? That was a while ago, Katsumi hadn't paid too much notice to it.

A couple of students glanced over at her, everyone knew who she was huh?

Fireworks went off in the sky as President- Present Mic introduced the festival, hyping the already cheering crowd up. It turned out a nice day for it, Katsumi thought. The sky was blue, the clouds white and fluffy, not too cold not too hot. All she could have asked for.

She'd do fine.

"-You know them from withstanding a villain attack-!"

Katsumi winced, were they really using that as some cool event to make them look cool? People could have died.

Once they walked they ways over to the stage Miss Midnight began to introduce the games.

Katsumi always had thought Miss Midnight was weird. She taught them modern hero art history or some shit like that, stuff Katsumi didn't pay attention to. She was known as the R-Rated hero, and worked in a school. She was nice enough, and Katsumi supposed it was just a persona, but the whip in her hand and her BDSM costume was kinda crazy.

Kirishima and Kaminari mumbled something about it being inappropriate, faint blushes on their cheeks. Tokoyami at least seemed unaffected, but like the two other boys, most of the male students were obviously blushing. Guess she had a real effect on the guys.

…

Katsumi looked around for Izuku.

"Silence everyone!" Miss Midnight yelled, cracking her whip. "And now for the student pledge we have… Katsuki Bakugou!"

For a split second there, Katsumi thought they were going to call her name out. Katsumi- Katsuki, only one syllable difference. She would have killed her dad for not warning her about it if it had actually been her called up. That relief almost immediately was replaced by shock when the name that was actually called processed in her head.

Bakugou, hands in his pockets, sauntered up onto the stage. He stared, bored, into the crowd as everyone waited in anticipation for whatever he was about to say. Katsumi didn't know how it worked, was there a speech he was given beforehand? Did he have to write something himself? Her classmates around her looked nervous, she assumed he got to say whatever he wanted.

"I just wanna say," his voice echoed out over the speakers across the stadium, "I'm gonna win."

For the second time in five minutes, Bakugou made Katsumi burst into laughter. Her howls were drowned out by the boos and uproar from the rest of the students. Katsumi continued to laugh, bumping against Kirishima.

"Katsumi! This isn't funny! He's gonna make everyone hate us!"

"Why would you be so disrespectful?" Iida yelled, "You're representing us all!"

Bakugou turned around, looking down at the crowd of students and giving a thumbs down, "Not my fault the rest of you are just stepping stones to my victory."

Katsumi wheezed, gripping Kirishima's shoulder.

Miss Midnight immediately went on to introduce the first event of the day.

"Now, moving on! This is where you start feeling the pain! The first event of the festival-!"

A hologram popped up, different possible games spinning fast too quickly to read. Of course, it was all theatrics, they had to prepare the games beforehand, so they'd already chosen what the first game would be.

"What could it be..?"

The hologram landed on an obstacle race.

"Tada!"

Miss Midnight continued to explain, but Katsumi could only think 'lazyyy.' They had already done that for the entrance exams, at least the ones she took. Well, that gave her an advantage, right? Not like she was particularly worried, to begin with. On the other hand, everyone around her looked so serious. Even normally carefree people like Sero or Kirishima.

Her gaze wandered to Izuku, who she had found earlier when she was checking for signs of attraction to their aggressively sexual teacher. She watched him, only half-listening to get the important information. He was focused, eyes glued in front of him, taking in the teacher's words, no doubt already forming a plan. He was too deep in thought to think about anything other than the game.

"I don't want to restrain anyone, at least not in this game… as long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires!"

"Hm…"

She might not care, but for the sake of her dad, she'd do well. She'd try. She'd do nothing to interfere with Izuku though, obviously, it was more important for him to do well. He's who her dad was really watching, he was the one who cared about this. Katsumi was just killing time. But, she might as well show off a bit, might as well have some fun.

"Where is she?"

The first event of the sports festival would be starting soon, and instead of being in the teacher's booth with the rest of the staff, Toshinori was tapping his foot standing outside a back entrance to the arena.

Talk about last minute. She couldn't have given him even a couple of hour's notice? He wouldn't even get a chance to tell Katsumi now. What annoyed him was that she did it on purpose. She absolutely booked the flight weeks in advance, knowing her, and had probably decided on coming way before that. Yet she purposely didn't say anything just so she could message him ten minutes before and ask to be escorted to the VIP area. The doors were closed now, so he had no choice but to use his staff position to bring her through the staff entrance.

"Damn it Asami…" he muttered, looking at his watch. The students were set to walk out and minute.

The black limbo was almost silent as it smoothly pulled up right in front of him. Toshinori almost rolled his eyes at it. Being around his teenage daughter seemed to have rubbed off on him. The driver came out silently and walked over to the passenger door, opening it and bowing as the black-haired woman inside stepped out.

"Asami," Toshinori nodded, "Nice to see you again."

The woman raised an eyebrow, removing a pair of dark sunglasses from her face.

"Good lord," the woman clicked her tongue, "You look like death."