54 Chapter 53 – Sports Festival (part 1)

As I made my way toward the lodge where I would be watching the sports festival, a chirpy voice, that obviously belonged to U.A.'s resident chimera and its principal, Nezu, said to me.

"Hey! Shuzenji! Come here with Present Mic and Aizawa, you'll be a commentator. We can't have an expert Quirk Analyst and not use him, can't we."

With a tired sigh, I followed him, knowing that it was pointless to argue, not that it bothered me that much to be a commentator, I would've just appreciated it if I was warned earlier than 15 minutes before the start of the event.

I arrived in the commentator booth to a strange but usual sight, Present Mic animatedly talking to Aizawa who only tried, without success, to make him shut up and sleep.

I could say I shared Aizawa's pain, but it would be a lie, I didn't. I literally couldn't even feel tired, so… Thank you my Sleepless quirk, one of the most useful ones I bought, especially when you have a double life.

After 15 awkward minutes of Present Mic trying to rile the public and make them hype, it was finally time for the beginning of the event.

"WELCOME TO THE U.A.'S SPORTS FESTIVAL, THE EVENT WHERE THE FUTURE HEROES WILL AIM AT EACH OTHER'S THROAT TO PROVE WHO IS THE STRONGEST AMONGST THE NEW GENERATION!" Present Mic shouted, amplifying his voice using his quirk so that the whole stadium could hear him.

I had to admit that he was a pretty good commentator, it's like he was made for this…

"HERE IS THE ONE AND ONLY CLASS WHO GOT TO WITNESS A VILLAIN ATTACK, CLASS 1-A!"

"BUT NOT TO BE LEFT OUT, HERE ARE THEIR SISTER CLASS, CLASS 1-B!"

"DO NOT MISS OUR OTHER CONTESTANTS, GENERAL EDUCATION, THE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT AND THE BUSINESS COURSE!"

Present Mic introduced every class that would be participating in the event, each of them getting on stage alongside their introduction.

There was a little bit more than 210 students in the first year, but realistically, only the fifth of them had any chance of advancing to the second round, and that's being optimistic.

"NOW, FOR THE STUDENT PLEDGE, THE ONE WHO PLACED SECOND IN THE ENTRANCE EXAM, BAKUGOU KATSUKI OF 1-A!"

I wasn't surprised that it was Bakugou who would do the student pledge, Kyotaka had declined the opportunity to do it, so Katsuki inherited it, being the one that scored second in the entrance exam.

Kyotaka was actually very nervous when speaking to large audiences, she was quite shy so she didn't want to do it, it was too much for her.

Even though I didn't have this problem because of Emotionnal Manipulation, I could understand her, it was true that there would be hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, watching this event, so it would be too stressful for her.

It also was for this reason that Kyotaka didn't want to be the class president or anything like this and intended to go solo as a hero after graduating from U.A., she wasn't the best with people or teamwork, even though she tried her best.

Back to the student pledge, Bakugou started to speak, in a firm voice, seemingly uncaring.

"I'm gonna give my best, and I'm gonna place first. So you better all also give your best, I don't want this to be too easy after all. And good luck, cause you're gonna need it if you end up against me."

While dripping of confidence bordering on arrogance, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, at least he didn't call everyone extras and stepping stones, so maybe there was still hope for him.

There was a strange silence after his declaration, the other students not sure if they were supposed to be insulted by Katsuki's words or if he was just really overconfident.

On that tone, Midnight started to explain the first event.

"All right, confident these young heroes, are they not. And with that we can move directly onto our first event, which will be…

She "spun" a virtual wheel of fortune that ultimately stopped onto "Obstacle Course".

"This! The Obstacle Course!"

Of course, it was all arranged before, they were only doing this for the show, as truly random event would be way too complicated to plan, the logistics would be a nightmare. She continued explaining.

"It will be a race between all 11 classes on a course making almost 4 kilometers in a ring around the stadium. Only the top 42 will pass onto the next round, that's 1 student out of 5, the competition will be tough."

"I hope everyone here is ready, because it's about to get intense!"

"Ready!"

"Set"

"GOOOO!"

As soon as Midnight gave the start signal, most of the students haphazardly started to tun forward, a few amongst them taking the lead, notably Kyotaka thanks to her incredible reaction time and a couple of well-timed sound blasts that disoriented the others and Todoroki who just froze everything and shot forward.

But the others weren't very far behind and soon, they arrived to the first obstacle, bots. zero-pointers to be specific, the same ones as in the entrance exam. But this time there was a pack of them.

The two in the lead weren't even fazed by them, Todoroki simply froze one while Kyotaka outmaneuvered another one, using her quirk to propel herself in the air, both passing the first obstacle without much difficulty.

However, they weren't exactly kind to the runner ups, leaving them with a falling one pointer and another angry one.

But it was not their problem, and they continued to the second obstacle, not sparing a thought at those behind them.

"DAMN! THOSE KIDS ARE IN FIRE! HONOWA AND TODOROKI ARE STORMING THE COURSE. BUT WHO WILL WIN, THE ARCTIC TODOROKI ARE THE MYSTERIOUS HONOWA?"

Present Mic commentated, thrilled like most of the audience and I added my bit.

"Honowa will no doubt win if Todoroki refuses to use all of his quirk, and even if he does go full power, it will be a very close race. Although it's important not to forget about our other competitors as well, they are still in the race…"

The exact moment I spoke was the moment Bakugou blasted forward, past the 0-pointers, with an excellent control on his quirk and closed up a lot to the two in the lead, but the second obstacle was near.

"IT MAY BE NEITHER OF THEM, BAKUGOU GETS CLOSER AND MAY BE IN POSITION TO TAKE THE LEAD!"

"Yes, these students all have good control on their quirks, but it is on situations like those that the difference between all of them is noticeable."

The next obstacle was the "Fall", a tightrope walk between different rocky pillars/platforms, which to most students would prove to be quite the hassle, but for the ones leading the race, it was nothing more than a small nuisance.

Todoroki created "bridges" of ice and continued to run, not bothered at all while Kyotaka and Bakugou used blasts, from sound and explosion respectively, to propel themselves in the air and fly past the obstacle.

"WOW, THE STUDENTS DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO STOP AND STRAIGHT UP FLEW UP TO THE THIRD AND LAST OBSTACLE, THE MINEFIELD! I HOPE YOU'RE ALL READY FOR SOME FUN, I SURE THE STUDENT WILL HAVE A BLAST…"

"Shut-up Mic," a very disgruntled and annoyed Aizawa said, not appreciating one bit Present Mic's horrible pun. It must be hard on him to endure Mic every day...

As the three in the lead approached the next obstacle, Kyotaka slowed down a bit, and, a perk of my enhanced vision, I could see a nefarious smirk on her lips.

She had a plan, and it would likely be at the detriment every other students in the race.

Letting the other two take the lead, she dug up a mine from the field before she launched it at Bakugou, making it explode in mid-air, but too soon, the mine sadly not exploding near Bakugou.

She seemed satisfied by the result, though, and continued to run.

Still, I think I knew her plan, it would not end well for those two.

"IT SEEMS HONOWA HAS LET THE TWO BOYS TAKE THE LEAD, WHAT IS SHE PLANNING?"

The heated race continued for a couple more seconds, seconds while Todoroki and Bakugou continued to give their all while simultaneously sabotaging the other, Kyotaka pretty close behind, but maintaining a couple of meters between them.

Just as I saw Midoriya start to dug up mine near him and pile them up, Kyotaka suddenly stopped, much to the confusion of everyone else and planted both her hands on the ground.

There was a second or two of confusion while nothing happened, before the ground started to shake, as if a powerful earthquake hit the area, and then…

BOOM!

She activated every single mine in the entire obstacle race at once, by firing an extremely powerful sound blast onto the ground, thus creating a gigantic explosion which shook the ground up to the stadium, making most of the contestants fall to the ground, unbalanced and creating dust cloud which completely blocked sight.

More importantly, that stopped and stunned the two in the lead, they were more affected than the others as, the farther you went in the minefield, the more mines there were.

Immediately after the minefield exploded, while nobody could see what was happening clearly, Kyotaka started to run, making herself go after using sound blasts and took the lead of the race, leaving two confused and pissed off teens behind her.

The stunt she just pulled probably exhausted her quirk horribly, it was clear the she would not be able to use another move like this soon, but it didn't matter, she would win in a matter of seconds.

"HONOWA APPARENTLY HAD A PLAN, AN EXPLOSIVE ONE IN FACT. SHE JUST BLEW UP THE WHOLE FIELD! MY GOD WHAT DID YOU TEACH THOSE KIDS… THAT'S… I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS."

"BUT IT SEEMS HER CRAZY PLAN WAS EFFECTIVE, HONOWA HAS TAKEN THE LEAD! WILL THE OTHERS BE ABLE TO CATCH UP OR WILL HER STUNT WIN HER THE RACE?"

It only took a few seconds for us to get the answer, as soon, Kyotaka's face was broadcasted in the giant screen in the stadium, letting us know that she had won.

"CHEER UP FOR KYOTAKA HONOWA! AS SHE JUST WON THE FIRST EVENT OF THIS YEAR'S SPORTS FESTIVAL!!!