Da Lone Ranger: I understand you don't like Sports Festival Arc, but don't you think it's a bit much calling it a necessary evil?
Fatah D Astraf: *Thumbs up*
Barbatus Lupus Rex: Yes, he is.
A/N: Happy New Year's Eve to everyone!
With Class 1-B
Takechi can be seen nervously twiddling his thumb as he thinks about his current situation. Of all the things he expected, getting into national television was not on one of his Second Life bucket lists. He has every right to be nervous given he is afraid to embarrass himself in front of the Japanese citizens watching this entire festival.
"You're okay, Takechi-kun?" Takechi turns to see Kendo approaching him, looking at him in concern.
"I-I'm okay, I'm just nervous," Takechi says while chuckling nervously. "I mean, the entire Japan is watching all of us. I'm scared to embarrass myself."
"Understandable," Kendo says with a smile. "But, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I mean, out of all of us, you're the skilled one, so I doubt you'll screw up."
"That…is not how it works," Takechi sweatdrops. Also, what's that about him being the skilled one? Who even calls him that?
"M-my point is, you won't embarrass yourself." Kendo looks away, blushing in embarrassment.
"Takechi," Takechi turns to see a tall boy with a green mohawk and a pair of hooked blades on both sides of his cheek looking at him, narrowing his eyes. "I'm going to kick your ass in the Sports Festival."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's with the aggression, Kamakiri?" Tetsutetsu exclaims in surprise. "I thought the declaration of war was just for Class 1-A!"
"You dumbass," Kamakiri scoffed. "If I plan to reach for the top, I need to get through all of the strong contestants, including Takechi here."
"But, aren't we all friends here?" Tetsutetsu asks.
"I think the right term is rival," Kamakiri says in an even tone.
"Well, being rivals doesn't mean we can't be friends," Takechi says before looking at Kamakiri. "All right, I accept your declaration of war, just make sure you bring your best against me."
"You too," Kamakiri grunts before walking away.
"Geez, he could've at least not been rude about it," Awase mutters as he walks towards Takechi. "You're okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Takechi asks while tilting his head in confusion.
"Well, being nervous about the Sports Festival and having someone declaring war on you isn't exactly a great combination, buddy." Awase points out as Takechi chuckles.
"I suppose, but I'm okay," Takechi says before looking at Kamakiri walking away. "Having him declaring war on me only made me excited."
"Boys," Kendo says while rolling her eyes. "All of you are adrenaline junkies."
"This coming from a girl who kicks everyone else's asses and asks 'Who wants more!?' like a wrestle high on adrenaline in every sparring match?" Awase deadpanned as Kendo looked flustered and tried to smack Awase, but he dodged away, yelping in surprise. "Whoa, she-hulk! Chill!"
"I'll show you she-hulk!" Everyone facepalmed when hearing Awase's choice of words while laughing at him before they decided to calm their class president down. Meanwhile, Monoma can be seen on the corner brooding.
Ever since Takechi lashed out at him about the Class 1-A Incident, he feels like the entire class has been against him. He doesn't even realize his mistake and he feels betrayed when Takechi chooses to scold him. To make it worse, he and some of Class 1-B students had befriended students from Class 1-A and they had always been spotted to be hanging out with each other.
He didn't understand why Class 1-B refused to listen to reasons. Class 1-A had taken away all of the attention and their class will get overshadowed by them in the Sports Festival. If this keeps up, everyone will only see Class 1-B being lesser than Class 1-A!
It happens in every UA's annual Sports Festival whenever he watches the news, it's always been Class 1-A being the center of the focus, but not Class 1-B. It's always Class 1-A that reaches the final round. There are rare cases where Class 1-B gets to shine, but it was like looking for He refuses to let his entire class be seen as a lesser Hero Course student. He wants to show to the world that they are as capable, if not more than Class 1-A!
He will make sure Class 1-B will reach for the star, one way or another!
With Class 1-C
Shinsou can be seen grunting while looking at the clock, thinking about his current situation. One that is involving the class representative of 1-A, Izuku Midoriya. He remembered how he was once saved by the boy, twice.
He had seen the power he possessed before and how easy it was for him to tear down the robots during the entrance exam. Shinsou can't help but be jealous of him, blessed by everything, including quirks. So, it was a surprise to see him saving others with no hesitation, including him, he thought that maybe he was different compared to the arrogant kids with powerful quirks.
But, when the results come in and he sees the leaderboards, he notices that someone has a lot of rescue points. He concluded that the boy was Izuku Midoriya, and he might've known about Rescue Points, hence the reason he's been saving people. Shinsou thinks that perhaps either it was leaked or nepotism is at play, and if it's the latter, then Izuku Midoriya might've been the type of person Shinsou hated the most.
Then, the USJ incidents happened and the news about a student getting injured to protect the students got spread around. This made Shinsou conflicted, unsure of what to believe anymore. So, he decided to see the person by himself.
It's safe to say that he isn't someone that he expects at all. Despite his appearance, he is quite crude and seems to be confident when he declares war on the boy. Then, a boy called Monoma from the other hero course student appears and decides to cross the line. Ochako's actions and Izuku's cold rage were terrifying as fuck.
He may have poked a sleeping dragon with a stick, and he can't help but be nervous. But, what Ochako said back then did clear a lot of things. Midoriya is willing to save others no matter what, even if it's risking his life. It's a risky strategy, but he could work with it.
Another thing that he can't stop thinking about is the students who also wanted to join the Hero Course, Chikuchi Togeike, Rikidou Sato, Kinoko Komori, and Shugo Kyouriki. The 4 of them consistently choose to train together to join the Hero Course, even joining alongside the students from Hero Course. Shinsou was considering joining as well, but after the declaration of war and people discovering his quirk, he rather not risk it.
Also, he overheard from the upperclassmen that there are only 2 slots for students transferred to the Hero Course. Join forces with them to get transferred to Hero Course will only help them as he will be considered as the weak link. Well, not exactly since when it comes to strength, Komori is the weakest but given his quirk, he doubts they choose him over her.
And how could he forget the newest addition to their General Department, Katsuki Bakugou? He's exactly what was wrong with the Hero Course, accepting everyone with powerful quirks without bothering to check their personality or attitude. How that rabid dog even got accepted in the first place is beyond him. Unfortunately, he can still participate in the Sports Festival. Fortunately, he won't be transferred back to Hero Course even after winning. The only way for him to get the chance for the teachers to consider transferring him is for him to change his attitude, but given his rage towards this 'Deku' person, he doubts he will get the chance anytime soon. At least UA is trying to fix their mistake, albeit a bit late.
As Bakugou growls in the background while cursing under his breath, Shinsou gets up and prepares himself. He will do whatever it takes to win. Meanwhile, Chikuchi Togeike looked at Shinsou and scowled. She can't help but feel that way towards the guy, especially given how her first interaction with him.
"I'm not here to make friends, getting into the Hero Course is all the matter."
It leave a sour taste in Togeike's mouth as she wasn't expecting the boy to be cold. When she first meets him, she simply wants to befriend him because he seems lonely. He had every right to reject her, but did he have to be that cold?
She let out a sigh before she felt someone's hand touching her shoulder. She turns around to see Kyouriki looking at her in concern.
"You're okay, class rep?" The boy asks in concern.
"I'm okay…" Togeike let out a sigh, glancing at Shinsou.
"Nervous?" Kyouriki asks as Togeike nods.
"How could I not? This is a big event." Togeike says as Sato nods, approaching them with Komori following behind him.
"Well, I don't think there's anything you should be nervous about," Komori says with a big smile. "We've trained hard for this event, so we should be fine."
"….I suppose," Togeike smiled before taking a deep breath. "Let's prepare ourselves. It's only a few minutes left before the Festival starts."
"Yeah!" The three of them say in unison.
With The Support Course
"Um, Mei? Don't you think you're overdoing it?"
Miles can be seen holding his backpack while sweatdropping as he looks at the giant backpack belonging to one Mei Hatsume. He can't help but wonder how the girl created so many gadgets in such a short time, but given how most of her support items tended to explode, he says she must've done as fast as possible to create a lot of support items.
"Bah, this is nothing. Besides, you have no right to say I overdid things, Tails. How many times has Muscle brought trays of food for you every lunch break because you forgot time?" Mei says as Miles looks flustered.
"T-this isn't about me, it's about you," Miles exclaims. "Also, could you at least remember my name? It's not that hard and we've known each other for a month now!"
"Nope," Mei says with a grin as Miles sweatdrops before facepalming.
"Will you at least drop some of them? I mean, what's the use of robot washing machines or even an emergency raft?" Miles begs.
"Who knows? The gimmick could be anything!" Mei exclaims as Miles gives her a deadpanned stare before sighing. He looks at the support equipment he brought to his bag before gripping his hand in determination. Ever since he had encountered Midoriya, he had decided to repay the favor by building support equipment for him.
He hadn't expected Midoriya to show any concern towards him, especially when he admitted he skipped lunch. It…was surprising to him, but he didn't mind at all as to him, it felt nice to have someone worried for him. From that moment, they grow closer and become friends. Sure, he was older than him, but it was nice for him. Miles had barely any friends before UA, everyone loved to tease him about his quirk, and his parents were always away. They're nice parents and always care about Miles, but their jobs overseas constantly keep them away from being there for the kid. Having Izuku and his friends keeping him company most of the time seems nice.
So, it was devastating for Miles when he heard Izuku almost died from a villain attack. The support equipment he made for Izuku and all the upgrades he added for his protection wasn't enough to keep him safe. He had spent a lot of time in the lab to create better support equipment to keep him safe. He may have overdone it since Izuku had to constantly bring him lunch foods, telling him to take it easy, and there was one time when Izuku had to bring him home whenever he fell asleep at the lab after school. After that, he made sure to get enough rest so he wouldn't bother Izuku again. He still brings him lunch as he occasionally forgets about the lunch break.
"What are you thinking about, Tails?" Miles snapped out of his thoughts before looking at Mei and shaking his head.
"It's nothing, let's go," Miles says as Mei nods with a wide grin.
"Let us show the babies we've made to the entire world!"
"Mei, wording!!"
At the Stadium Seating
"Oh, wow. This place is quite nice."
Inko looked around in awe as Toshinori brought her to the VIP section, holding Hackmon in her arms. Of all the things she expected in her life, meeting All Might, who is her son's mentor, and starting to date him isn't one of them, besides finding out her son gains the memory of his past reincarnation and having a monster partner from an alternate universe, which is well-known by everyone in her son's past life.
She is still shocked when she hears her son having these memories, but she believes him. The story isn't something that he could've come up with so easily and in detail. And it does explain her son's change in behavior, in a good way. He feels more confident, a bit short-tempered, but at the same time, much more regretful. She had never seen someone feeling so much regret in her life and before Izuku came clean, she couldn't stop wondering what made him feel that way. After hearing his story, it all made sense.
She had no idea how to help him, reincarnation is a foreign subject to her. All she could do was to be there to support her son in any possible way. Her son loves to tell stories about his past life and his happy memories. She listens to how once he was nothing but a kid who couldn't handle jokes and always resorts to tantrums which made him unable to make friends with a teenager who tries to be better but still unable to make friends. She feels sad and happy about every moment of her son's past life and always does her best to help her son emotionally.
"W-what do you think?" Toshinori asks, slightly nervous while looking at Inko as he holds a huge bucket of popcorn and two cups of drinks.
"Is…it okay? I mean, it's not cheap." Inko asks in concern as she helps Toshinori hold the cup. She wished that Toshinori would've told her that he was getting a snack so she could help him.
"Well, I have a lot of money and I don't even use a quarter of my decades-worth of salaries. So, yes. It's okay." Toshinori says with a grin. "Besides, I know how much you want to support young Izuku, so I made sure you got the best seat to see your son in action."
"Thank you…" Inko says with a smile. "Speaking of Izuku, what do you think of his progress?"
"To be honest, he has done amazingly," Toshinori says, a hint of pride in his voice. "He manages to master his quirk so easily that I…." Toshinori looks downcast. "… feel like I'm insignificant in his growth."
"Hehe," Inko giggled. "If it does make you feel better, he idolize you since he was 4. He always wishes to be like you, being a hero and saving others with a smile."
"He could be better than me," Toshinori says in a low tone.
"You….believe so?" Inko says in surprise.
"Of course," Toshinori says with confidence.
"Oh, what do we have here?" Toshinori stiffens before turning around to see Midnight looking at him with her signature sly smile. "Yagi, I didn't know you'll bring a date, who looks very stunning."
"M-Miss Midnight!" Inko meekly says as she looks at the pro-hero nervously. The woman smiled before noticing Hackmon on Inko's arm.
"Yo," Hackmon waves at her.
"….wow, Midoriya sure is lucky. He could brag to people that his dad is All Might," Midnight says while giving a teasing grin while Inko and Toshinori blush in embarrassment as they start to stammer. Behind the pro hero, Eri can be seen walking while holding Himiko's hand as they each hold a hotdog and drinks with Vlad King following and supervising them. As Eri and Himiko look for their seat, Vlad King notices a familiar person entering the VIP Section.
"Oh, Mandalay. What a surprise." Vlad says in surprise as he looks at Mandalay approaching while holding Kota, they both hold a box of Takoyaki and Okonomikayi respectively. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Well, my nephew seems to be wanting to watch this year's Sports Festival. I…can't exactly refuse since this is the first time he ever wanted to come here on his own accord." Mandalay says while looking at Kota, who refuses to make eye contact with her.
"Wait, your son wishes to watch the Sports Festival? Isn't he…?" Vlad King stops himself before grimacing while looking at Kota.
"Oh, he was. But, ever since he encountered one of the UA students, Izuku Midoriya, and found out more about the student, he sneaks into my office and looked through my laptop when I was working, by the way, he had decided to ask me to let him go to the First Year's Sports Festivals." Mandalay says before looking at Kota with a sly smirk. "Kota had started idolizing the boy since he had helped him."
"A-Aunt Shino!" Kota turns his head around and screams at Mandalay with a massive blush on his face, making Mandalay chuckle. "I-I'm not idolizing him! I-I was just wanting to see if that dummy keeps his promise to not stay dead!"
"Dummy?" Vlad King raised his eyebrow, while slightly surprised at learning that Kota idolized the class representative of 1-A.
"Well, it's been his go-to nickname for the boy. Interestingly, he didn't say it with anger unlike when he insults heroes, like some sort of an affectionate nickname." Mandalay says while giggling and ignoring blushing Kota hitting her legs, but since he's a kid, there's no power in it.
"Huh…" Vlad King is unsure how to react to that while Kota pouts while looking away before noticing Hackmon on Inko's hand.
"Hackmon?" Kota says in surprise as Hackmon perks up and smiles at Kota.
"Hey, kid." Hackmon greets before jumping out of Inko's arms, surprising her, Toshinori, and Midnight. "How are you?"
"G-Good," Kota mutters before looking at Hackmon. "How's that dummy?"
"You mean Izu? He's fine." Hackmon says while sweatdropping. "Also, please refrain from insulting my partner."
"Hn," Kota grunts before Eri approaches Hackmon and hugs him, surprising everyone again.
"Hackmon-san," Eri says happily as Hackmon laughs.
"Hi, Eri. How are you?" Hackmon says with a smile.
"Mhm. I got to meet Izu-niisan on the way." Eri says happily.
"You mean running towards him before he went to the changing room?" Himiko approaches Eri while giving her a raised eyebrow.
"Details," Eri says innocently, making Himiko give her a deadpan stare.
"I shouldn't have introduced you to memes so early," Himiko says while facepalming.
"You know Izuku-aniki?" Kota asks, surprised by Eri's words.
"Mhm, I'm Eri. Hackmon and Izu-niisan saved me and Himiko-neechan from bad men," Eri says with a smile, still hugging Hackmon.
"I-I'm Kota Izumi….Izu-aniki has helped me back then…." Kota mutters while holding his hat before looking at Eri.
"Hmm?" Eri looks confused, tilting her head.
"Horn…it's a cool horn," Kota muttered, pointing at her head. Eri held her horn before looking at Kota's hat and smiled.
"Thanks. You got cool horns too," Eri says while pointing at Kota's hat. Kota looked slightly surprised before holding the spike on his hat and smiling. Inko can't help but smile, remembering Izuku telling her about the kids he helped and finally being able to see them. Mandalay seems a bit happy as she silently takes pictures of Kota interacting with Eri, while also being happy for Kota finally making new friends.
"HELLO EVERYBODY!!! Welcome to UA's Annual Sports Festival, where every student is aiming at each other's throats to reach for the top!" Everyone stops what they're doing as they hear Present Mic talking. They all went to their seat while eating their food. "All of you must've been excited, right? Especially after hearing the news!? A group of freshly formed miracles pushing away a mass villain's assault with a sheer iron will! I give it to you, Heroic Course Freshmen Class 1-A!!! All of you were here for them, right!?"
With that, the entire audience cheered while Vlad King could only groan in annoyance.
"Look! It's Izuku-aniki!/Izu-niisan!" Both Eri and Kota said in unison.
"Go, Izu! Go!" Hackmon cheers.
"Beat them up, Izuku-kun!" Himiko cheers happily.
"Why is that biased cockatoo become the announcer again?" Vlad King asks while grumbling.
"Midnight, aren't you supposed to be down there and be the referee?" Toshinori asks in confusion.
"My rights have been stripped away," Midnight grumbles disdainfully as they all hear Present Mic announcing the rest of the class, and everyone in the section can't help but sweatdrop. It was clear the bias Present Mic displayed towards Class 1-A.
"Is he even qualified as an announcer?" Toshinori says with a sweatdrop.
"I see Katsuki in….the General Department Course?" Inko says, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"You know Bakugou?" Midnight asks as Inko nods.
"I know him since his parents are close friends of mine. Back then, my son and Katsuki used to be close friends. But now…" Inko trails off, not finishing the sentences, but the heroes understand.
"And let me introduce you to this year's chief referee, Snipe!" Present Mic exclaims loudly and it's safe to say that the entire stadium is filled with disappointed groans. This made Mandalay sneer in disgust while Vlad King facepalmed.
"…." Inko looks at the stadium blankly while Toshinori pinches the bridge of his nose while Midnight's eyes twitch, shocked by everyone's shamelessness. There are kids in here!
"… Why do they sound so disappointed?" Eri asks innocently, making the adults and Himiko freeze.
"Adults being a perv," Kota says in a deadpanned manner.
"Kota! Where did you even learn that word!?" Mandalay looks aghast.
"Uncle Chawara told me about it, saying they're people who look at girls in disgusting ways and every time they didn't find girls, they will groan in disappointment," Kota says. "Also, that grandpa over there mentioned the woman wearing a weird outfit supposed to be the referee, so I thought they expected her to be down there."
"…wow, the kid's smart," Vlad says, blinking in surprise.
"Silence, everyone!" Snipe says, shooting the starting pistol upwards. "Now, for the athlete's oath, I present to you all, the First Year Representative, Izuku Midoriya!"
With Izuku
"Why does he get to do it?"
"He did place first in the entrance exam,"
"Yeah, for Hero Course."
"Of course, what do we expect?"
Izuku gulps as he walks towards the podium, slightly nervous as he's about to give a speech in front of live television. He grabs the mic from Snipe's hand before taking a deep breath, looking around to see hundreds or even thousands of people watching him. He anxiously bit his lip before he started talking.
"All men are not created equal," Izuku begins, silencing the entire stadium. "…I learned that lesson since I was 4. This world is cruel to everyone, all because of quirks. Dumbasses thought categorizing them as 'weak', 'useless', or 'villainous' is a genius idea, which leads to discrimination. A mistake we human refuses to learn through it or even acknowledge it. It was very obvious when you saw each store, facility, and job. All of them seem to have a heavy bias towards people with quirks that everyone will 'hate', that includes Heroics."
Everyone is speechless by Izuku's words, none of them expects this type of speech from him at all. Some of them even seem angry at how Izuku calls them out.
"And the worst of all, how this society treats quirkless," Izuku says bluntly. "Not only discriminating against people with different quirks isn't enough, but they also seem to have pleasure in doing those to people who don't have quirks. All of these people who got discriminated against had done nothing wrong but living in this world and being born with that power, none of them ask to be treated in such ways, yet they end up with the short end of the stick." Izuku takes a deep breath. "I say, it's time to change. It doesn't have to be a complete 180, but simply accept this is a shared world with a common future, and everyone has the right to live in it. And perhaps, we can start it in this Sports Festivals." Everyone looks confused by Izuku's words. "Don't look at the students and immediately separate them based on the course they're in, see them as competitors only. And to all of my fellow competitors, I want you all to show this world that all of you are more than meets the eyes. Do your absolute best and show the world that you all are here." Izuku added with a grin. "Those who desire to be a hero, show the world why you deserve it, show them that you too can be a hero. I will give everything I've got at this festival and I want you all to do the same! Go beyond!"
"Plus Ultra!" Everyone cheers loudly, Izuku pants while watching the entire stadium cheer before smiling. Izuku looks at Snipe as the teacher gives him a thumbs up. Giving back the mic, he walks down the podium before he is swarmed by his class as they cheer loudly.
Shinsou can be seen looking at Izuku with a conflicted expression. He is unsure how to react to the boy any longer as he keeps getting weirder and weirder in his eyes. His speech alone is enough to get the entire class who once hated Class 1-A to say he and his class don't seem so bad. But, it seems that not all the students agree, Bakugou, Harumi, and Monoma are examples of them.
To Monoma, it's a ploy by Izuku to get all the attention. To Bakugou, he should've been the one who was doing the athlete's oath, not the nerd. To Harumi, Izuku shouldn't be making such a speech and angry at how things didn't remain canon.
"What a great speech from our First-Year representative!" Present Mic exclaims loudly. "Now, let us not waste more time and start our first event! Everyone seems hyped up and ready to go, and we don't want to stall them any longer, right?"
Then, a large hologram of a roulette wheel appears in thin air before it starts spinning. Everyone looks at the spinning wheel as it slows down and the arrow pointed at one section with a huge letter written on it.
[Obstacle Race]
To be continued
