Ambition

Yousuke knocked on the staff room's door. He received a simple 'enter' in response, and opened the door. He could see that the staff room was mostly empty, except for Thirteen, who was exactly who Yousuke wanted to talk to.

The Pro Hero wasn't wearing the helmet of her costume, so the teen could see her lightly-colored hair that was, rather curiously, simulating a spiral. But her hair paled in comparison to her eyes. As is the norm with anything quirk-related, Thirteen's eyes seemed to defy logic and physics, with her irises being surrounded by moving rings, partially covering her pupils as well.

Yousuke didn't know whether she was visually-impaired or if her sight was just normal, but scientifically speaking, those rings should at least have some effect on her vision. Though, perhaps it wasn't the best time to get lost in thought, as he was broken from his contemplation by Thirteen's disconcerted coughing.

"W-What can I h-help you with?" she stumbled with her words, averting her eyes from Yousuke's intense gaze in embarrassment.

There was a reason why her suit completely covered her body, despite the fact that it was unnecessarily bulky. She had to roll with her astronaut theme, even if it got extremely hot in there in the summer.

This intense shyness had been a well-known annoyance to Thirteen, yet the hero couldn't do much about it. She had been trying to be more open and casual with her colleagues at UA first, before going without the helmet on at her class hours at the USJ.

The Pro Hero was currently deeply regretting the fact that she didn't wear her helmet, while also cursing the fact that she stuttered.

"I came here to check on you, teacher." spoke Yousuke, moving forward from the room's threshold.

"Ah, y-you don't need to w-worry about that! I-I was injured while doing my job as a Pro Hero, so you don't have to feel bad for me! As long as my actions helped someone, I won't regret what I did!" Thirteen was somewhat hesitant at the beginning, but her tone slowly got more composed as she kept talking.

She got rather distracted, too, as she didn't noticed Yousuke approached her until the teen placed a baseball-sized ball in the heroine's hand. The woman instantly clammed up and looked up at the teen, since she was still sitting down.

"That ball will give you energy. If you use it in tandem with Recovery Girl's treatment, it should be very effective."

The Pro Hero looked at the spinning ball, feeling a tingly sensation in her hand. It was weird but certainly not unpleasant. At the same time, Yousuke checked the time, and he saw that the break was about to end.

"I'll be leaving now, teacher. Please don't hesitate to use my ball to recuperate. And don't worry, it's not a burden on me at all, really."

The teen opened the door and intended to step out, but he almost bumped into Midnight. With a quick nod of acknowledgement and a 'teacher' uttered, the teen left for his classroom.

Midnight gazed inside the staff room, seeing the red-faced Thirteen play with something between her palms, and couldn't help but have a smug smile.

|INTERMISSION|

Today was the day. The UA sports festival was finally here. And as the crowd roared, Yousuke himself gave an eager smile.

The teen was standing with his class as they waited for the first event to begin. Tensions were only heightened by the crowd, and if Yousuke was to be honest, he didn't know how could the crowd give such a response, considering both the third years and the second years went before them that same day.

Speaking of their upperclassmen, both of those years only had 2 events each so far, with the promise of the last event taking place after the first years' events. This was very different from UA's usual modulus operandi, so the crowd was feeling very blue-balled when they couldn't see the one-on-one fights that were often chosen for the last rounds. It would've been completely within Yousuke's expectations if the crowd was somewhat annoyed.

"I HOPE YOU ALL ARE READY TO RUUUUUMMMMBLEEEE?!" Present Mic's loud voice was further amplified by the various speakers around the stadium, the hero trainees feeling their bones vibrate in resonance with the hero's voice. The following answer from the audience made many nervous, the raw energy of the spectators was able to be felt in the core of every student.

"THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR, MY LISTENERS! HOWEVER, DON'T STRAIN YOUR VOICES YET, SINCE YOU STILL NEED TO SHOUT FOR ALL THESE EXCELLENT STUDENTS!" the Pro Hero further amped his audience. "SURVIVING A VILLAIN ATTACK THIS EARLY IN THEIR CAREERS AND THEN COMING OUT ON TOP OF SUCH SITUATION, THE GOLDEN CHILDREN OF UA, GIVE IT YOUR ALL FOR CLASS 1-A!"

With such an opening, is it even a wonder that the rest of the first year classes gave them the stink eye? Of course, there are some who aim to be heroes (or be in the heroing bussiness) for the big paychecks. To those, popularity is much more important.

Class 1-A was largely unbothered. After all, they'd survived a villain attack. They wouldn't be bothered by some twats getting pissy.

Since Present Mic was done with the loud introductions, on the stage came up class 1-A's homeroom teacher, Midnight. The R-Rated Hero did what seemed to be impossible and further hyped up the crowd. The heroine explained a few rules and details of the event, which was understandable. What wasn't so understandable, was the following:

"And now, to represent the freshmen students, we shall have the first-placer of the entrance exam do the Student's Pledge! Give it your applause for 1-A's Gojo Yousuke!" Midnight announced, clapping sounds thundering as still-shots of the brown-haired teen's performance at the entrance exam were displayed among the extra-large screens spread all over the stadium, as well as being broad-casted by media.

Yousuke was taken aback by this development, a fake smile settling on his face. The boy had forgotten this was nothing out of the norm with UA, but the problem was he didn't prepare any kind of speech. Clicking his tongue, the teen walked up to the podium and took the mic Midnight handed him as silence settled upon the stadium, many eager to hear what the first-place had to say. It was something that happened only at the first years' event, after all.

"This school excels at molding youths with great dreams into remarkable Pro Heroes. When you think of UA, the first heroes who pop up in your mind are All Might, Endeavor, Best Jeanist and the like.

But what is something these high-ranking UA alumni tend to have in common, besides the school they went to? They participated in a sports festival not unlike this one, and they took the first place. That being the case, I'd like to announce my ambition to become the Nr. 1 hero."

The teen paused to let the audience take in his words. As expected, the crowd was ecstatic at this display of unbridled ambition, while most of the UA students were apoplectic. The poor things actually hoped he'd give out a normal speech.

"And, the winner of this festival... will be me! By a mile!" he declared with finality, pointing a thumb at himself.