Chapter 57: UA Sports Festival (I)

In the days before Quirks, sports fans would obsess over the Olympic Games. When quirks became a part of the equation, the U.A. Sports Festival became the most watched sporting event. Students from each grade and every course compete among each other in their respective age groups.

Every Japanese school had such an event once a year. It was an occasion where students competed with each other and showed their skills and talent.

The US Sports Festival wasn't very different in essence when compared to other hero schools. It was just on a far larger scale.

This was a very important competition for the students since, even though there wasn't a prize outside of a medal, it was an occasion where they would be able to show their skills to all the heroes and all those who were watching.

In short, those with good results would have a much higher chance of becoming pro heroes.

No students would know what events they would be participating in until the day itself arrived.

Still, this did not stop all of them to train harshly for it.

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"Izuku, be careful not to get hurt."

Midoriya Izuku, who was currently preparing himself, smiled at the words of his mother.

"Alright."

"I'll record it, okay? In high resolution. Do your best!"

"Don't worry, I will take care of myself."

After waving his hands, he opened the door and began running towards his school. It didn't take long for him to reach UA, though upon reaching the gate, he wondered how he would enter the school.

Currently, the gate of UA was being swarmed by a horde of journalists.

This year, the bag check was more comprehensive. After all, after the press was held responsible for the invasion of the villains at USJ, they were still not off the hook yet. Plus, it never hurts to be more careful.

'I wonder how the others are doing.'

After the USJ incident, his entire class felt helpless in front of the might of Shido. He alone had taken care of almost every single villain who was present, save for one who had escaped. Without harming anyone. He managed to single handedly capture seventy plus villains while keeping the damage at a minimum, which was basically almost nil.

He personally had continued his training with the trainers Nighteye had provided for him. Although they didn't know each other very well, he knew it was because of All Might's influence he was able to have such privileges, and he was not going to let down All Might's expectations of him.

However, he was getting stronger, he knew that the others were training with all their might as well. Momo and Shoto had their own personal training, while others had found different ways to train their abilities. They were chasing right behind him, but...

'I will give them a big surprise.'

He had gotten first place in most of the heroic battles he had taken part in, but he wasn't going to be arrogant. All Might and Shido had personally told him before. He clenched his fist as he thought back on what All Might had told him.

A determined expression formed on his face as he thought,'I will win and I will become number one in the sport's festival. I will not let them down.'

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Class 1-A waiting room:

The room had nothing special. It was just a very large room with tables, chairs, and lockers.

"Sigh, I wanted to wear my costume." Mina complained as she looked at the blue and white standard uniform UA students wore when doing sports.

Frankly, it wasn't bad, but she really wanted to show off in her costume.

"I wonder what the first round's gonna be..."

"No matter what comes, we have no choice but to deal with it."

The tension was rather high, but they were prepared. It was then when the door opened ever so slightly.

The room suddenly went quiet and waited for whoever was about to come in.

Contrary to their expectations, it wasn't a human who entered. It was a white rabbit puppet standing about thirty to forty centimetres tall.

"Yo! How are your preparations coming along?"

"Yoshinon! Let me hug you!" Mina squealed and rushed towards him. Before Yoshinon could regret his decision to come here and hop away, he was already carried by Mina who buried him in her ample breast.

"I never thought I would be jealous of a puppet one day..." A creepy, purple-haired boy looked in their direction from a corner with a creepy facial expression.

Beside him, Denki nodded his head in agreement as he also looked at the puppet, or more accurately, Mina's breasts.

Kyoka heard the words of these two boys and decided to use her quirk to poke both of the boys' eyes, resulting in them rolling on the ground, their hands covering their eyes and wailing in pain.

The rest of the class ignored this scene as they were already used to it, and focused more on the puppet who had arrived.

"Hey hey! Stop hugging me! Only Shido and Eri can do that!" Yoshinon complained as he tried to wriggle out of Mina's grasps.

But Yoshinon was too soft for her to let go. Furthermore, since it was right before the sports festival, this caused all her piled up stress to be released on Yoshinon.

Not only did she refuse to let go of Yoshinon, she also heard something else.

"Eri? Who is that?" The class also wondered who this 'Eri' was. They had never heard Shido mention her before, nor had they seen her before.

"Eri is Eri! Eri is a girl." Yoshinon replied smugly, as though his answer was the best possible answer that ever existed.

"You meanie...as if we don't know that. Tell us more about her, how she looks. Describe her overall appearance, her personality. Give us information." Mina demanded as she pulled Yoshinon cheeks.

Yoshinon struggled for a while before Mina decided to spare his cheeks, but did not let him go.

"Hey hey! No pulling my cheeks!" Yoshinon complained as he rubbed his round cheeks.

He wasn't going to continue talking until he felt all the stares of the girls and some of the boys on him.

"Etto...Eri is...Eri is..."

BANG!

Just as Yoshinon was about to spill the beans, the door suddenly opened again.

"Everyone! Are you ready? We will be entering soon."

The one who opened the door was Izuku. As the second representative of the class, he was given the schedule to follow, even though he didn't know what the events would be.

The moment he said so, the tension that was previously dissipated due to the presence of Yoshinon rose again. But the students were not as tense as before Yoshinon appeared. Too much tension was bad since it would make them stiff, but too little of it was equally bad as it would let the students be too relaxed.

It could be said that they currently had the optimum condition recommended. Not too much tension, not too little either. Just the right balance for them to be at their best condition.

It was then, however, when a voice rang out.

"Midoriya."

Izuku, who was about to ask why Yoshinon was present, stopped after his name was called. He turned around and faced the boy who did so. It was rather easy to recognise him. After all, he was on the same level as him and Katsuki.

"What is it, Todoroki? I am a little bit in a hurry."

He wasn't trying to be rude. But he was not the only representative of the class along with Momo, but also first in all of class 1, all departments added. In terms of intelligence, Momo was slightly above him and Shoto was on par with him, while Katsuki just uses his instinct to score well. In terms of pure raw power, Katsuki and Shoto were slightly below him, but in terms of combat power, they were equal. He and Shoto were the perfect balance of good intelligence and good power. So, after much consideration, the school decided to let Izuku make a speech for the opening.

The room fell silent as they observed the oncoming discussion.

"Looking at it objectively, I think I'm stronger than you."

Shoto didn't beat around the bush and directly said his piece.

"Huh?" Izuku was a little taken aback before his expression sharpened just ever so slightly.

'Sure, I had some wins and some losses against Todoroki, but is he looking down on me?'

The current Izuku wasn't the old one. He would never cower in front of anyone. Well, except for the trainer with painful healing since he was afraid of getting healed by her. But that's besides the point.

"What do you want to say?"

"Nothing much. I am not trying to insult you. I just want you to know that...be it you or Bakugo, I will beat the both of you and I will win."

His expression was serious. This immediately calmed Izuku who was growing angry. Shoto wasn't looking down on him nor was he saying this with arrogance. He was simply making a declaration of war.

"Tsk!"

Katsuki, who had previously stood in a corner with his eyes closed in silence, to the surprise of everyone, got up and looked at Shoto with a very angry expression.

"Don't get too cocky, you half and half. You better be careful out there, in case you get eliminated before you even manage to go against me!"

The tension in the air was so brittle it could snap. No-one spoke, what else was there to say?

"Guys, you should calm down a little." Eijiro tried to defuse the situation before it became worse, but it was then when a voice spoke up again.

"Oh? It seems like you're rather confident."

The moment this voice was heard, everyone turned towards Mina and looked at her breast. Or more specifically, the puppet currently trapped between her breasts and arms.

"Todoroki-kun might have been a little too direct in his words, but he isn't wrong. His mindset is something that the rest of you should adopt as well. This might be a school's sports festival, but the competition isn't exactly very friendly. Right here, right now, all of you are fighting for your future as heroes. Everyone here is your enemy."

Yoshinon advised as he forced himself out of Mina's grasp before hopping to the door.

"Try not to forget that. Now, teachers are not supposed to be here at this time, so I'll be leaving now." Yoshinon said before turning back to face them,"Oh! And before I forget, do your best out there and don't shame your teachers out there!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the door slammed shut, leaving the students in silence.

*****************

"How was your visit?" Shido asked his puppet as soon as he entered the room.

"Horrible. I got smothered by some breasts the moment I went inside..." Yoshinon complained as he positioned himself back on Shido's left hand,"Ahh...this is still the most comfortable place after all."

Shido merely glanced at him before turning his head back to the screen,"You know that most people would die for what you have just experienced? Like that purple head boy in class."

"Don't compare me to them. I'm a puppet, what do I need girls for? But maybe a rabbit girlfriend wouldn't be too bad..." Yoshinon muttered as he adopted a thinking posture.

"Sure. I'll inform you if I ever meet another puppet who has a life on its own, female and who's interested in finding a mate as well, all right?"

"That's what a friend does! I'll be counting upon you then. My love life is in your hands."

Shido didn't reply to him and focused on the opening ceremony. As an assistant teacher, there wasn't much he needed to do. All he needed to do is keep an eye out for potential trouble, but he had his clones for that job, leaving him basically free for the entire day.

Seeing that Yoshinon was bored and unfocused on the competition and continued emptying the basket of apples present, Shido thought for a while before he spoke,"If you're that bored, how about you go find Eri and bring her here? I'm sure that the other teachers wouldn't mind."

"Ohh! A job for me? No problem. I'll go find her and bring her here safe and sound." Yoshinon replied excitedly before leaving.

Shido thought that he should have probably just brought Eri along with him from the start, but since it didn't really affect anyone much, he just shelved his thoughts away.

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"GATHER 'ROUND MASS MEDIA! THIS YEAR, ALL YOUR FAVOURITE HIGH SCHOOL KIDS WILL LET THEIR YOUTH RUN FREE LIKE A BUCKING BRONCO ONCE AGAIN...THE YUUEI SPORTS FESTIVAL HAD BEGUN! EVERYBODY, ARE. YOU. READY?!"

"THE YUUEI SPORTS FESTIVAL! WHERE THE HERO WORLD' INCHOATE LITTLE EGGS AIM FOR EACH OTHER'S THROATS - AND THE TOP! OUR YEARLY GRAND MELEE!"

Present Mic appeared on the huge screen above the stands and started introducing the sports festival.

"AND LET ME GUESS, ALL OF YOU MISCREANTS CAME TO SEE THEM, RIGHT?? THE FRESHLY-FORMED MIRACLE STARS THAT SHRUGGED OFF A MASS VILLAIN ASSAULT WITH WILLS OF STEEL!"

When Shido heard that, he almost laughed. The public didn't know what happened inside USJ, only general details like no one was severely injured, villains attacked and the students survived. The only reason why Present Mic said what he said was only for propaganda for the school, to make the school look good.

"THE DEPARTMENT OF HEROICS...FRESHMAN CLASS!"

After a massive applause for Class 1-A, what followed was a presentation of all the classes from class 1-B to class 1-K.

All the students slowly entered the field under the ovations and screams of the audience. It was like they were superstars. Though, it wouldn't be such an exaggeration to consider them as such since Pro Heroes have essentially taken over the role of idols.

In the centre of the stage, standing on a podium, Midnight was bathing under the flashes as she waited for all the students to gather. Once it was done, she raised her whip with a large smile,"Time for the player pledge."

Most of the students blushed as they admired Midnight in her hero costume. Midnight didn't care about all the stares she received as she continued to speak,"Representing the students of the first year. Midoriya Izuku!"

All the stares previously on her directly fell on Izuku. He didn't seem affected at first glance, but when one took a closer look at him, he would be able to see him sweating furiously and his legs trembling violently.

As he trembled to the stage, he could hear the murmurs of people. Due to his nervousness, he didn't manage to hear anything from the murmurs and continued walking until he reached the top of the podium and stopped in front of the microphone.

Since he was given the information that he will have to make an appearance, he wondered what he should say. What he should do. He had an entire script planned out in his free time, and he planned to follow it to the tee.

The moment he held the microphone, the stadium fell silent. It was like the simple act of picking up the microphone had affected everyone.

When he started speaking, he was trembling. But the more he spoke, the more confident he got.

"...thank you, and let's all go plus ultra!"

After his speech, the audience roared with excitement. After all, his speech had been motivation and stimulation for all the students here. Everyone was now bursting with exhilaration, impatiently waiting for the sports festival to start.

And as if their wishes came through, Midnight immediately continued,"Good speech. All right, with that, we can move directly onto our first event."

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A/N: I'm not going to write a speech for Izuku, so you can imagine it by yourself.

I just realised after writing this chapter that Shido being a teacher is seriously limiting how much content I can write. This will be the only time where Shido guides the protagonist. The next time, he will be the same age as the protagonist.

Shido will not be seen much. Some reactions from him here and there, but apart from that, he will basically be sitting at the sidelines.

Is this fan fiction really that bad...? I feel like this isn't very well-received...I'm getting sad...

If you want to support me or/and want 14+ chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patr eon.com/spirits_everywhere