11 Chapter 11

Most of the qualifying students came to the field a few minutes so they didn't have a chance of being late.

Most doesn't mean all. Satoru is nowhere to be found.

"Where is Gojo?! He should have been here five minutes ago!" Iida lectures as he chops the air.

Uraraka shrugs, "He should be here soon! I deny Gojo would be late."

Kaminari overhears them, "Dude, this is Gojo, and there are a bunch of dessert stands outside. I wouldn't be surprised if he skips out the rest of the event because of that."

"That's highly unprofessional for a UA student!" Iida complains. The others on the field seem to be questioning class 1-A once more.

 A minute before the next round scheduled starts, Satoru runs onto the field with a box, "Hey, everyone!"

Iida storms in front of Satoru, "Why are you late?! You should have been here five minutes ago!"

Satoru tilts his head innocently, "Why would I arrive five minutes earlier when the event starts in one minute?"

"For professional purposes!"

"That sounds dumb, but I am sorry that I have offended you once more. Here," Satoru opens the box he was carrying to reveal a bunch of mochi, "Have one! Think of it as an apology gift!"

"I appreciate the gesture, Gojo, but I prefer to keep a healthy diet."

"I'm sorry for your lost."

"What-?" Iida is about to ask what Satoru is talking about, but Midnight commences with her announcement right when the clock hits the time.

"Welcome to the event you have all been waiting for: the battle event! Students will fight against one another to reach their way to first place! They must either knock out their opponent or get them out of the field! This is when it gets ruthless, so buckle up everyone!"

However, before she can continue, the blonde tail-boy from Satoru's class, Ojiro, speaks up, "Miss. Midnight?"

Midnight peers over at him in curiosity, "Yes?"

"I would like to drop out of the event," Ojiro says out of nowhere, shocking many of the students around him.

"That's not allowed in the rules unless it is for an emergency situation."

"I heard, but I don't know what happened in the last round. I only remember before and after, but not during. This is a good opportunity, but my conscious won't let me take it."

Midoriya approaches him, "Hey, I understand, but think about it-"

"I have, okay?! Everyone gave their all in round two, but I was just someone's puppet. No way. I don't want to advance if I don't even know how I got here. It wouldn't be fair," Ojiro explains, clearly frustrated with the situation.

Another boy, one Satoru recognizes from 1-B, speaks up, "I would like to drop out as well for the same reason as him."

Satoru hums. So there is a mind control quirk around here? Interesting. Satoru gives whoever did that full credit with their idea even if it is a bit immoral.

Midnight starts dancing in place, "Oh yes, such beautiful youth! I'll allow it! Two players from fifth team can replace them instead!"

"But you just said it wasn't allowed?" Present Mic questions from the booth.

Considering Present Mic is only an announcer, his words mean nothing. The two boys were replaced by two class 1-B students, a girl with vines for hair and the boy with Kirishima's quirk.

Once the switches were made, Midnight continues, "After throwing your names through a randomizer, here are your matches!"

On the large board behind her, eight pairings are shown, and the order they will be going. Satoru searches for his name to find that he is the sixth match against Yaoyorozu. That's going to be a challenge considering her quirk, but he will figure it when he gets there. For now, his other classmates and him head to the seating area to watch the first match.

Midoriya versus Shinso of class 1-C, the general ed class. It only takes a glance for Satoru to realize that Shinso was the boy that talked to him in the crowd blocking them to class. Well, at least he isn't a shove over.

As it turns out, Shinso is the one that brainwashed his team members.

Their match starts off rather simple since Midoriya can't use his quirk without breaking his bones, and Shinso doesn't have a physical quirk. However, Satoru can see Shinso talking to Midoriya. He guesses that he to talk or something to brainwash someone. Anyway, Midoriya suddenly stops and goes still. Shinso, with a grin on his face, says something. Midoriya starts going to the edge to remove himself on the game. Then, a large gust comes from Midoriya and he stops. Satoru nearly flinches when he sees a couple of Midoriya's fingers broken.

Why can't the boy stop breaking his fingers?

Midoriya keeps a serious look on his face as he practically shoves the struggling Shinso off the field, winning the match.

The second match is Todoroki versus Sero if one can even call it a match. It lasts five seconds as Todoroki turns Sero into an ice burg. That's it. Satoru didn't even get to finish a mochi before it ends.

The third match between Kaminari and vine girl has a similar outcome. However, at least the vine girl lets Kaminari try to zap her first. However, her vines stop that from affecting her and wraps him up in one fell swoop, finishing the match quickly.

The fourth match is Satoru's favorite. It's between Hatsume and Iida, and Hatsume makes Iida into a mess. Satoru likes to think of it as sweet revenge for all the times Iida has lectured him for ridiculous things.

Before the match even started, Hatsume had gotten ahold of Iida and asked him to try on some of her gear and wear it during their battle. He agreed.

When Iida comes onto the field fully decked out in Hatsume's wears, Satoru stops eating for a moment to establish if what he is seeing is real or not. It takes him a moment to realize that it is and proceeds to eat. Midnight talks to Iida as hero students are not supposed to have gear without permission, and he somehow convinces her to let him keep it.

The match starts, though Satoru also can't call this one a match either. It's more of a show. A beautiful show that Satoru will be watching again when he gets home. The reason Hatsume had asked Iida to put the gear on is so that he can be her model. The whole time, Hatsume demonstrates every piece of gear on the boy, shoving him around like no ones' business. She even takes over the sound booth so that everyone could hear her clearly! The entire time, Iida screams at her to stop, which is heard by class 1-A as they are close to the edge.

Satoru almost choked from laughter multiple times. It was a beautiful scene.

Eventually, Hatsume finishes her show and casually walks out of the field. Iida wins because of that, but he isn't too happy about being made an embarrassment live.

The fifth round is between Ashido and Aoyama. The match is pretty simple as Aoyama tries to catch her with his naval laser, but he keeps missing due to Ashido's prowess. He doesn't have a chance as Ashido is skating around the field on her ice. Eventually, Aoyama is unable to use his laser anymore, and Ashido takes the chance to disable the belt and uppercut him, knocking him out. Ashido clearly wins that match.

During that match, Satoru must go as his match is next unfortunately. To keep things going, they are required to be at the gates before the end of the round before them.

When the 5th round ends, Ashido passes him, "Good luck, Gojo!"

Satoru grins, "You know it, and good job on the match!"

"Thanks!"

Ashido heads out, and he waits for the signal to go onto the field.

After one of the teachers cleans up Ashido's mess she left behind, they can start the match.

"All-purpose Creation! She was admitted through recommendations, so her abilities are certified! From the hero course, it's Yaoyorozu Momo!" Present Mic screams without a microphone.

Satoru just now realizes that it's impressive that everyone can hear the man even over the crowd. He understands that Present Mic's quirk allows his voice to be that loud, but one doesn't know how strong it is until now if they consider it.

Satoru snaps out of his inner thoughts when he is signaled to come out.

"He has the ladies swooning over him, but don't let that fool you as he is literally untouchable! It is Gojo Satoru in the hero course!" Present Mic announces.

Satoru steps onto the field, considering the first statement. Ladies swooning over him? Maybe he should check out the internet later and see what that's about.

For now, Satoru steps onto the field with Yaoyorozu across from him and smiles.

They turn their attention to Midnight for her to explain the rules, "You can do whatever you want as long as you don't aim to permanently injure or kill your opponent. To win, you must either knock your opponent out, get them out of bounds, and force them to give up. Are you two ready?!"

Satoru grins and nods while Yaoyorozu simply nods. Satoru takes note how she doesn't seem confident. That's concerning, but Satoru decides to ignore it. Once they are in the fight, she should get more confident, he assumes.

"And start!"

Satoru doesn't hesitate to rush forward to catch Yaoyorozu off guard. Her eyes widen as his approach, and she makes a shield to try and defend herself. Satoru knows that will interfere with his fight, and he really doesn't want to have to use Red here. As soon as it forms, he kicks it out of her grasps out of bounds. Yaoyorozu, clearly panicking, tries to go for a punch only to be stopped by Satoru's barrier. She starts to form something else, but he stops her by shoving her back. He would pull back when she tries to throw him off, bringing that barrier back up.

Yaoyorozu is clearly frustrated as she tries to think of something, but it's too late when Satoru pushes her out of bounds. The worse part is that she starts to form a weapon when Midnight points it out,

"Yaoyorozu is out of bounds! Gojo is the winner!"

Satoru offers Yaoyorozu a handshake with a smile, "You did well for making it this far. Don't be too hurt. It just means you have more room to grow. The issue is that you panicked."

Yaoyorozu returns the smile, though stiffer as she shakes his hand, "Congratulations on making it through. I'll be cheering you on."

"Thanks! Can I offer you a mochi when we return to the viewing area?"

Her smile turns more genuine, "I would like that. Thank you."

"No problem! Come on, let's go!"

As promised, when they join their classmates, Satoru hands over one of his mochi to Yaoyorozu while the class congratulates him for making it to the next round while comforting her.

Round seven is the longest round in the entire tournament between Kirishima and the guy with the same quirk but with steel. Apparently, they not only have similar quirks but think alike as well. They consistently went for the same moves no matter what.

Satoru ends up falling asleep for this round. He is awakened by one of his peers to find that both boys had knocked each other out at the same time. They will have a rematch in a different style when they wake up after the first round is finished.

The eight and final round of the tournament is between Bakugo and Uraraka, and Satoru knows that this is going to be ruthless.

And it is. Uraraka starts rushing at Bakugo, and he continually explodes at her. What interests Satoru is that she keeps going at him, and he explodes her like she is a kabob. However, Satoru grins when he looks up. She has a smart plan.

That doesn't mean everyone sees it, though. The crowd starts booing at Bakugo for how he is treating her and to stop 'toying with her.'

Satoru likes Bakugo for once because he is treating her like an actual opponent! He isn't holding back as most would do!

Satoru looks towards the pro hero who said that comment and screams, "Hey, don't underestimate her! She deserves to legit fight, not a pity one!"

Before the hero can say anything, Aizawa takes the microphone, "Who ever said that, if that's what you believe, you should go home and put your cape up. Bakugo is treating Uraraka that way because he sees her as a powerful opponent, not someone under him."

That makes the crowd shut up, and Satoru has a new respect for his teacher.

Eventually, Uraraka sends a whole meteor shower at Bakugo, and the only way he can avoid being injured is by exploding all of it. Looking at the aftermath in Bakugo's hand, he sees him holding it. That must have been painful on him.

Uraraka is distraught, but she tries to go after Bakugo again only to pass out. Satoru considers that a respectable match.

During that match, the hard boys woke up. To determine who moves onto the next round, Midnight determines that they have an arm-wrestling competition. That goes about the same as their first match. However, eventually, Kirishima wins and moves onto the next round.

That ends the first round, and the board creates the next matchups.  A quick search reveals that Satoru is against Ashido for this round.

"I'm going to beat you, Gojo!" Ashido announces confidently.

Satoru simply shrugs, "Okay."

"Is that all you have to say?!"

"Hm. Good luck because I'm going to win!"

"…I should have expected that."

"Uh-huh!"

The first match for the second round is intense between Midoriya and Todoroki.

Midoriya, being who he is, deflects Todoroki's ice attack by flicking his fingers with his overpowered quirk, which leads to him breaking his fingers. All of his fingers, and some of broken more than once somehow. Then, he manages to break his arm.

Satoru is concerned for Midoriya for how much he is breaking his bones. He would not be surprised if he ends up suffering permanently because of it.

Midoriya is screaming at Todoroki, who is slowly freezing himself. Overall, it's a battle of who will survive longer: someone with a bunch of broken bones or someone suffering from hypothermia.

Eventually, Midoriya rushes forward and starts attacking Todoroki close-up, and that seems to snap something in the boy. All the sudden, the red hair side of him catches on fire, and he displays a grin to show he is ready to win. The two prepare a powerful attack where Midoriya jumps the air with his strength quirk and prepares a punch while Todoroki combines his fire and ice for an ultimate attack. Both Midnight and Cementoss see where this going to go as Midnight tries to knock one of the boys out while Cementoss brings wall of cement between the too.

But it isn't enough.

Due to the air pressure suddenly changing from all that is going on, a huge explosion happens that destroys all the glass in the stadium. Everyone around him has to duck to avoid the chips of glass while Satoru brings his barrier up to avoid being hit by them.

Smoke covers the field, but once it disappears, it reveals Midoriya collapses out of bound and Todoroki still standing with half of his shirt gone in the field.

Todoroki wins that round.

The next round is much simpler than that thankfully for the stadium. It is between Iida and the Vine girl. When the round starts, Vine girl tries to attack from a distance with her vines, but Iida zips past it. He proceeds to grab her by the shoulders and push her out of the bounds with speed, winning the match easily.

Once again, Satoru has to leave in the middle of the match as his is next.

"I still haven't gotten a response on whether something comes out of those horns or not, it's Ashido Mina from the hero course!"

Ashido comes onto the field with a determined look on her face when Present Mic announces that.

"He has been cruising through the competition with no issues so far, but will that change here? It's Gojo Satoru!"

Satoru enters the field with a simple smile.

"You better be ready to lose, Gojo!" Ashido proclaims like before.

"No," Satoru says simply.

Midnight catches their attention with the whip, "You two know the rules, so are you ready?!"

Ashido nods quicky, "Uh-huh!"

"Of course," Satoru responds.

"Then start!"

Ashido immediately starts coming towards Satoru by sliding on her acid, and he doesn't hesitate to rush forward with a plan in mind. He has no idea if it will work, but he might as well experiment with it!

As he predicts, Ashido throws her acid at Satoru in attempts to get him, but that doesn't work when it hits his barrier. When he drops the barrier, the acid simply plops on the floor in front of her as she is still approaching. Shock enters her eyes.

"Come on, Gojo! You can't be able to block everything!" Ashido complains as she gets close to perform a close-range attack but not before Satoru can stop it.

Satoru sings, "Yes, I can!"

While Satoru sings, he skids to the side to avoid Ashido's punch. However, he also takes advantage of it by grabbing her arm. With the blink of an eye, he teleports with her to the edge of the field and throws her out of bounds.

"Ashido is out of bounds! Gojo is the winner!" Midnight announces.

Ashido pouts, "When have you been able to teleport people?!"

Satoru goes over and offers a hand to help her up with a huge smile, "I have no clue, but I figured out that I could just now!"

"You did that without knowing if it would work or not?! What if I got stuck in space or something?!" Ashido begrudgingly takes his hand, and he helps her up.

"That's not how my quirk works, so there's no worries! Besides, if I can teleport with my clothes on, I should be able to teleport people!"

"That's two completely different things!"

"I say not."

"Gojo!"

"Good match, though!"

"Yeah yeah. You better win or I am going to be petty."

"I mean, I was planning on it."

The two exit the field of go back to the audience where the same thing like with Yaoyorozu happens once more with their class.

"Gojo, I believe you should pay extra attention to this fight. If Bakugo wins, you will be facing him," Iida warns Satoru suddenly from behind him.

Satoru peers over his shoulder at Iida, "I know. Should I be worried?"

"Well, given Bakugo's aggressive approach, yes."

Tsu agrees with him, "He might push the boundaries you don't know about, ribbit."

Satoru shrugs, "Maybe, but I want that to happen."

Iida chops his arm, "Seriously?!"

"Yeah! If he does it, it finally gives me a challenge! It also provides me insight on my quirk that I need. I rather not discover that during a villain fight. I deny it will happen here, but you never know."

"You make a good point, Gojo."

"Either way, don't worry about me. I'm going to win."

Tsu questions, "Isn't that being cocky?"

"Depends: do you doubt me?"

"No, kero, but it isn't exactly a good look."

Satoru nods, "I'll agree to that. That's Bakugo's thing, not mine."

Iida sighs, "Can you not bully your classmate? I understand disagreements, but it sets a bad example as hero if you bully him."

"I'll consider it."

Iida doesn't push that anymore.

As it turns out, Bakugo easily beats Kirishima by overwhelming him.

Satoru grins. Finally, he is getting an excuse to face Bakguo. Satoru will win, of course, but it will be interesting to see what Bakugo will try to do to get around it.

During the short break to prepare for the semifinal rounds, Midoriya comes back to the audience covered in bandages. Satoru really hopes that Midoriya's quirk will eventually not hurt him because this is getting ridiculous. The first couple of times were funny, but now it's just painful.

Satoru even overhears Midoriya saying that Recovery Girl had to perform surgery on his arm! That's going to cost him!

Satoru can't say anything to him, though. He doesn't know how to help besides telling him not to be impulsive about his quirk use.

Satoru pushes that out of his mind when the first of two semifinal rounds start: Iida versus Todoroki. Satoru is more than happy to say that this round involves no broken bones this time! However, it is short, too.

Iida starts by trying to go at an angle towards Todoroki, but ice stops him. Switching to the other side proves to have the same result. Todoroki then goes for a straight shot towards Iida, but Iida jumps over it and practically flies over to Todoroki. He heats his legs up more than usual once more as he misses the kick. However, he manages to land the second and force Todoroki on the ground while Todoroki frosts the area. Iida then snatches Todoroki by the shirt and tries to run to the edge to throw him out only to realize he can't move since his engine is covered with ice.

Todoroki wins the round. Looks like he will be Satoru's final opponent.  

Then, it's finally the moment Satoru has been looking forward to all day.

Satoru versus Bakugo.

Satoru does not even bother to listen to what Present Mic has to say when he steps on the field, and Bakugo doesn't seem to care either.

"Alright, boys, let's not kill each other, okay?" Midnight says when she sense the tension from one, that one obviously being Bakugo.

"We won't!" Satoru entertains with a grin.

Bakugo growls, "Let's start so we can get Blindy to the ground!"

"But I'm not blind?"

Midnight sighs, "Out of bounds or knock out. I'm reminding you guys incase you forgot already. Are you ready?!"

"LET'S GO AROUND!" Bakugo yells.

Satoru smiles, "Yes, ma'am!"

"At least one of you have manners. THEN BEGIN!"

Satoru did not have a plan for this fight besides for letting Bakugo go at it.

And boy, did Bakugo do just that.

Bakugo immediately explodes in Satoru's direction and aims for a direct hit to the hide only to be stopped by Satoru's barrier.

Satoru steps forward, deciding to casually walk to the center of the field, "That's all you got, Bakugo? Shame, shame."

"SHUT IT, BLINDY!"

That seems to trigger Bakugo as he just keeps going at Satoru over and over with his explosions, jumping around him like a rabbit only to be stopped repeatedly. Satoru just stands there with his hands in his pocket. Maybe he'll consider fighting Bakugo after he wears himself out a little bit. That's not an issue for Satoru considering he has no limitations unlike Bakugo considering he saw issues in his hand from the first match with Uraraka.

Eventually, Bakugo has had enough. He blasts himself into the sky, glaring down at Satoru. Then, he starts spinning down directly at Satoru with the explosions speeding him down like a bullet.

"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

An explosion blinds Satoru's vision, but he keeps the barrier up.

Satoru waits a moment for the silence.

When Satoru opens his eyes, he finds that the field around him is destroyed besides for the platform he is on.

Bakugo stands in his crater pissed, "WHY ARE YOU HOLDING BACK ON ME?! I WANT A REAL FIGHT!"

Satoru taps his chin, "Hmm, you might survive-"

Bakugo doesn't wait for his answer as he explodes right in front of his vision, "JUST DO IT!"

Satoru smiles innocently, "Okay!"

Unlike before, Satoru doesn't bring up his barrier. Instead, he teleports behind Bakugo and does a kick slam on his back onto the ground. Bakugo growls as he blasts himself off the ground to avoid being pinned. He spins around to try and surprise explode Satoru, but Satoru is already in front of him again, kneeing him in the stomach to stop him. Bakugo explodes back with a grin, and Satoru returns one equally as scary.

The two go at each other for what seems like forever, with Satoru teleporting all over and Bakugo exploding to where he needs to go. While Satoru consistently lands a hit despite Bakugo's good battle prowess, Satoru has not had one on him at all.

Eventually, Satoru gets bored. He wanders how well he can recover from teleporting midair.

Well, time to figure that out now.

While Bakugo is above him, Satoru yells, "Red!" And performs the corresponding move.

Bakugo doesn't get a chance to respond when he is thrown into the air like a ragdoll, and Satoru isn't finished. He teleports right above where Bakugo should be flying.

"Red!" Satoru performs the same move, but downwards this time. Bakugo doesn't even have a chance to snap out of the first when he is slammed into the ground, crater forming around him from the force.

Satoru teleports next to the boy and lightly kicks him, "Yo, are you awake?" No response. "Well, I expected more, but oh well. I win!" Satoru says way to happily.

Midnight clambers over to where Bakugo is and confirms Satoru's win.

That is the most satisfying thing ever.

Satoru leaves the field, and he is about to go to the audience again to watch who would get third place between Iida and Bakugo. However, Midnight stops to tell him that Iida had a family emergency, so Bakugo automatically gets third place.

Basically, Satoru is having his final fight within a few minutes of his last. That's not a big deal considering he feels the same as he did when he started. Literally.

Welp, at least it keeps him busy. Satoru turns around and approaches the field without waiting for Present Mic's signal. Present Mic stutters in his speech but corrects it quickly to focus on Todoroki.

Unlike Bakugo, he calmly enters the field.

"This is the final battle! Are you two ready?!" Midnight asks Satoru and Todoroki.

Todoroki nods while Satoru nods, "Yes, ma'am!"

"Then round start!"

Unlike the other rounds, Satoru calls to Todoroki before he has the chance to shove him into an ice burg, "Hey, if you use fire, I'll give you a real fight! Otherwise, I'm getting you out within a couple of seconds!"

Satoru is saying this for two reasons. The first and main reason is simply because that's the truth. If Todoroki ices him up, Satoru is left with no choice but to use Red in front of him to get out. Red has enough force to not only get rid of the ice but also get Todoroki out of the field. That's why Satoru didn't use it during Bakugo's round or anyone elses. He wanted a fight, and that would end it without giving him one. The second is to try and get Todoroki used to the other side of his quirk. If he should practice on anyone, it should be Satoru given that flames won't reach him no matter what.

It benefits both if Todoroki uses his flames.

Todoroki stops moving and watches Satoru for a moment. Satoru has no idea what is running through his head, but it seems like that doesn't change his first attack.

In an instance, Satoru is surrounded by ice with a small pocket to keep him from becoming part of it. He sighs. He should have known better.

Guess it's going to be the easy way.

Satoru can't hear anything going on outside, but that is going to change fast. Hopefully, Midnight didn't already end the match like she did the other two. If he's correct, he has thirty seconds to get out of this before she calls it.

Well, it is going to end in thirty seconds, so Satoru guesses that is not a big deal.

Satoru attacks, "Red!"

A huge force explodes the large ice cube surrounding it, shattering it into a million little pieces flying everywhere. At the same time, it rips past all that, grabs Todoroki, and shoves him out of bounds and into the wall. A large crack in the wall shows just how much force was involved.

Midnight raises her hand, "Todoroki is out of bounds, making Gojo the winner of this years Sports Festival!"

Satoru goes over to Todoroki to help him up. However, that doesn't stop him from saying, "I told you so."

"I understand now," Todoroki says solemnly. Satoru decides not to ask more on that.

The two are asked to leave the field so that they can set up for the winners' ceremony. Todoroki goes to Recovery Girl while Satoru waits at the gate as it ceremony will be in a few minutes. He takes the time to reflect on what just happened.

If Satoru may be honest, it doesn't feel like he won. It felt like he took a walk and is getting a huge reward for it. Sure, he put the work into mastering his quirk and such, but still. Maybe he is just expecting more of a challenge.

On a positive note, at least he can say that his sister saw him win the Sports Festival. That will make her super happy, and that is more than worth it. It will be even more so once he gets home to see her hopping around with a huge smile on her face.

Bakugo's loud stomping interrupts his thought process. He stops right beside Satoru, not sparing him a second glance. However, he does seem a bit pissed.

Probably because he didn't beat him. Or maybe it is because he didn't get to beat Iida up. That's not Satoru's either, and he doesn't plan on making it his.

Todoroki joins them a bit later, and silence is shared among them.

Finally, Present Mic gives them the signal to come to the field, and they take their places.

Bakugo is in third place on the lowest ramp.

Todoroki is in second on the medium height.

Above them all, Satoru stands with a grin at first place.

Midnight then announces he is giving them their medals: All Might.

All Might hops down from out of nowhere with the medals at hand. He gives a brief speech, and then hands them to each of the boys with his encouragements.

Then, All Might places Satoru's around his neck, "You're truly amazing, my boy. Keep up the hard work!"

All Might steps away from the boys and looks at the crowd, "Now, I believe it is time to end up! I say we end it with encouragement from everyone here! On my signal, join me!"

A moment of silence.

Then, All Might waves his hand.

The crowd screams, "Plus Ultra!"

That doesn't seem to be what All Might had in mind as he yells, "Thank you for your hard work!"

All Might seems confused, and all Satoru can do is sigh. He doesn't know what the man expected.

With the medal around his neck, Satoru heads out, having to sneak past his classmates to get home to his family quicker. He'll consider apologizing to them later.

When Satoru does get home, he smiles and laughs when Shisuta runs up to him and tackles him while screaming congratulations.

It was worth winning for that.