Chapter 12: Sports festival
Izuku woke up the morning of the sports festival feeling extremely deteriorated. Damn, he sure regretted missing a few minutes of lesson to vomit the food up that All Might had given him. He hadn't expected to feel this weakened from eating human food again and he had chosen a hell of a day to do it.
Shit... What was he going to do?
Izuku slowly pulled himself out of bed and trudged his way to school feeling sick and lethargic.
Once he arrived at school Aizawa sensei, still wrapped in bandages, walked into the room and took registration before taking the class down to the changing rooms to get into their P.E kits.
After getting changed slowly Izuku made his way out of the changing rooms and met up with Ochako who eyed him carefully as they made their way onto the coach which would take them to the sports festival stadium.
"Deku? Are you ok? You seem a bit pale..."
Izuku looked down at his friend tiredly.
" I.. um, ate a bit too much yesterday..." He said
quietly, so as not to attract unwanted attention to the pair of them.
Ochakos eyes opened slightly at that.
"I thought you were going to... um, do that tonight.." She asked cautiously. She hadn't heard anything on the news about it this morning.
Izuku sighed before looking at the floor before murmuring.
"Wrong type of food, Uraraka..."
Ochako opened her mouth before closing it again not knowing what to say. She sighed before asking.
"Why?"
She didn't need to say any more than that.
Izuku sighed before replying.
"It was just a stupid mistake, I didn't want to be late for our lesson after having lunch with All Might."
"Deku you really need to be more careful... It's really important to make sure you aren't unnecessarily weakened, we still haven't found an alternative food source for you... I don't even know where to find one."
Izuku took a moment to think before speaking up again.
"Before I started UA when i was out, i ran into another….."He paused, looking out the window of the bus as the trees flew by. "a person like me...
Ochako gasped lightly.
"Really? There are more people with ghoul quirks?
How don't we know more about them then?!" She asked in a surprised whisper, making sure no one nearby could hear. Thankfully the only person nearby was Todoroki who was asleep.
Izuku nodded slightly.
"I only know of one person, the quirk is so rare I doubt I'll meet anyone else... He came to tell me that i needed to find an alternative food source, to try and prevent me from getting caught but i think in hindsight he also came to try and protect Ghoul quirk users from being discovered again." Izuku sighed and rubbed his eye which had started itching slightly before laughing self deprecatingly.
"I bet that guy hates me now after all this..."
Ochako looked at him worriedly.
"Did he tell you how he got his food? I mean, if he got it the same way you did it would be in the news. At Least in his local news."
Izuku Winced before thinking deeply back to that day.
When I was in college I met this guy with a regeneration quirk.
"He said he had a friend with a regeneration quirk which let him eat of..."
Ochako hummed in thought.
"So we have to find someone with a regeneration quirk who's willing to help us..
Ochako looked up and around their class, carefully analyzing each individual.
"It's a shame nobody in our class has some sort of regeneration quirk..."
Izuku hummed lowly in agreement.
"Hello, Ladies And Gentlemen And Welcome To This Year's Sports Festival!"
Present mics' voice could be heard booming through the speakers as Class 1-A walked out onto the field.
"WOW! Look at all those people Deku!" Ochako said with eyes filled with awe as she looked around the stadium.
Izuku gulped, taking in the thousands of people watching them from above in the stands.
"Yup... That's a lot of people..." Izuku said nervously. He had never been a fan of big crowds.
With this large crowd, Izuku knew even more than ever that he couldn't afford to slip up and lose control. He looked down at the floor almost shamefully.
Even after 11 months he still couldn't fully control his eye's ability to change when he was hungry.
Being hungry was something he wanted to avoid at all costs
The first round had been decided as an obstacle course.
Izuku had pushed his way to the front of the crowd to prevent himself from getting squashed and stuck in the tunnel.
As soon as the start buzzer went off Izuku ran as fast as he could pass the people surrounding him to get in front.
It was at this moment he realized his speed and strength were both increasing rapidly without the help of one for all or having his kagune activated.
Izuku had learned from the beginning that he didn't have to have his ghoul quirk activated for it to affect his body.
In reality, he'd learned that the moment he woke up to the dreadful smell of human food.
One for all seemed to be affecting his ghoul quirk without even having it activated.
'Interesting' Izuku thought as he continued to run past and thought the robotic obstacles in his way.
The healing aspect of his ghoul quirk seemed to be healing his muscles in such a way that it allowed him to push his body's limits up without facing such' side effects'.
Izuku ran towards the end of the obstacle course and came in first using the metal and mines to explode himself over the minefield.
The sports festival continued on as canon past the cavalry battle.
After the Cavalry battle it was time for the finals and Izuku felt like hell, he probably really should have taken Urarakas advice. As the winners of the Cavalry battle gathered around, Izuku looked up at the board of matches that had been randomly made for the finals. As people around him began mulling around he came across his name right in the bottom corner.
"Hitoshi Shinsou..." He murmured lightly to himself as Ochako walked over to stand next to him.
"Mmm... I wonder who that could be..." She wondered allowed before looking around behind them at the other competitors.
Izuku continued to look through the board to see who he would be fighting after if he won against this Hitoshi dude.
Izuku's eyes opened wider slightly.
"oh..." he said quietly, just attracting the attention of his friend standing next to him.
"Uhh what is it Deku..." she said as she looked up to see where his eyes were pointing
"oh.."
'Todoroki Shouto'
Ochako turned to face his friend with a look of worry on her face.
"Deku are you gonna be ok? I mean i-"
Izuku sighed in annoyance, cutting her off before turning his head slightly to face her.
"Stop worrying about me, there's nothing you can do to help."
Ochako looked down in shame.
She had been doing that a lot after the USJ, needlessly worrying about him. Izuku understood that she was now, unfortunately, involved in his life but he knew what he had to do and had coped with his problems for almost a year now on his own. He didn't need people worrying excessively about how he lived his life because of this damn cursed quirk, it would cause more harm than necessary.
"Sorry..." she started before lifting her head and smiling weakly at him. "Well, good luck Deku! Just be careful when you're fighting him..."
Izuku turned back to her and gave her a small smile of thanks before turning and walking away from her.
"You too..."
It wasn't until much later that Izuku realized his annoyance to Ochakos worry was worry of his own. His own fears of hurting her make him subconsciously push her away from him and hurt her, even though he knew she knew the risks of being around him.
It was just a risk he never wanted to take.
As the break between the matches began, Todoroki dragged him towards a tunnel near the exit of the stadium.
As he let go of his wrist, izuku grabbed it and rubbed it as Todoroki turned to watch him causing him to watch back. The scar on his left side and the new one from the USJ on the right, down the side of his head.
"You quirk is very powerful..." Todoroki began causing Izuku to remain silent, not knowing what to say.
Todoroki closed his eyes and took a breath before continuing.
"At the USJ, where were you?"
Izuku's eyes widened slightly in fear as paranoia hit him like a truck.
"I- Iwas in the LandSlide area!" He stuttered out as he spilled the same lie he had told to All Might.
Todorokis' eyes narrowed slightly before continuing.
"At the US, I'm sure you know, I was in the center with the main villains and the nomu... That's where I got this scar." He began, lifting his hand to the new scar on the right side of his face.
"Before I fell unconscious, I saw All Might face off against the Nomu, I felt his raw strength behind each punch, a power I'd never felt before" He continued before looking up at staring straight into Izuku's soul.
"Until today, during the cavalry battle. Your power made me break my promise...
Izuku nervously brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know what you tal-"
Todbroki cut him off.
"Midoriya, are you All Mights illegitimate love child or something. You seem to have a very close relationship with him..."
Izuku paused at Todorokis' theory. Considering all the things Todoroki could have theorized that was what he had chosen.
Izuku almost felt like laughing if he wasn't so close to crying from sheer relief.
"What? That's not it, I mean. It's not like that!" His words came out in a jumbled mess.
Todoroki didn't look impressed, in fact, if anything he looked more suspicious and skeptical than before.
Todoroki closed his eyes and sighed.
"Midoriya, have you ever heard of quirk marriages.
As Izuku got up to walk to the stadium for his first match against Hitoshi, someone grabbed his shoulder making Izuku flinch violently.
He quickly turned around wide-eyed to see Ojiro quickly moving away from him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you jump like that."
Izuku relaxed slightly.
"It's ok, really!" He said with a fake smile.
Ojiro smiled lightly back at him.
"That's good, I just wanted to warn you about your opponent, Hitoshi. He has a mind control quirk of some sort. He used it on me during the cavalry battle. He was talking to me about joining his team and the next thing I knew it was halfway through the event. I didn't know what happened except for [was knocked by someone."
Izuku remained silent as Ojiro warned him about his opponent's quirk. Some part of him deep down didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or ashamed with himself. There were quirks far worse than a simple mind control quirk yet everyone around him was treating it as if it was some disgusting villainous quirk.
Izuku prayed they would never discover the true meaning of a disgusting villainous quirk.
Then again, ghoul quirks were disgusting freaks of nature.
Something that no one should have to suffer through.
He walked towards the entrance to the arena and walked into the open field once again as screams and cheers surrounded him making his skin crawl.
There were too many people for him to concentrate properly.
Izuku looked across the concrete platform and saw a boy with purple hair, much messier than his own, walk upon the opposite side to face him.
"Welcome to the first round of the finals tournament! Midoriya Izuku from the hero department, class 1-A vs Shinso Hitoshi from the general department!" Present Mics voice boomed through the speakers.
Izuku held in a grimace as another wave of nausea hit him as Midnight called the match to start.
"So, are you ready to just give up as that monkey did? His pride got the best of him and look where he is. If you know what you want your future to hold you can't worry about what other people think.
Izuku looked up from the ground and looked at his opponents and saw the anger on their face. An anger he knew all too well. He stayed silent as his opponent spoke up again.
"What? Got nothing to say? Think you're too good for me because you've been blessed with a powerful heroic quirk?"
Izuku scrunched his face up at the comments
Hitoshi was making.
Blessed, If only he knew the truth..
Each word that came out of his mouth made Izuku want to reply in defense. He wanted to tell Hitoshi that there were quirks much worse than his and how he used his quirk was what mattered. He wanted him to know how much his vocal attacks were hurting him, leaving a horrible sour taste in his mouth
It was clear on Hitoshi's face he was getting irritated with the lack of response from his opponent.
"What wrong? Did that monkey tell you what my quirk is?! Is my quirk too villainous for you? Is that it?!"
Izuku watched his opponent in shame and sadness as anger radiated from them. The level of emotions going through his opponent's voice filled him with guilt. The unknowingly false accusations cutting into him like a knife never would again.
luku felt like a fraud, Running around playing pretend heroes with a powerful quirk when he knew there were people out there much more deserving than him. When he knew eventually he would be caught and sent straight to prison.
Izuku knew what a truly villainous quirk was like...
He Kever wanted anyone else to live with the unnecessary guilt of having a 'so-called' villainous quirk
Izuku gave in and shouted across the stadium
"Your quirk isn't villain-!"
His mind went blank.
Hitoshi stood in shock as his quirk went into action against his opponent.
"Your quirk isn't villain-!"
Your quirk isn't villainous...
It should have been so easy to send Midoriya out of the ring yet something in his opponent's words stopped him. The emotion in his voice and conviction made him pause for a second. It couldn't be real yet it felt so honest and true.
"….. Turn around and walk out of the ring..."
Midoriya's words had caught him by surprise. He hadn't expected him to say that, he hadn't expected a hero course student, of all people, to sound so passionate about villainous quirks.
He had expected his opponent to defend his friend, never this.
The whole situation left Hitoshi feeling off... As far as he knew he had no reason to say something like that. A powerful quirk that could rival All Might.
Yea, Hitoshi has been there during the entrance exam. He had seen his opponent running around scared with no points. For a moment, back then, he almost thought they had been the same. But when the green-haired kid blew away that O pointer, it had left a salty taste in his mouth.
Hitoshi didn't know the boy but something about him left him feeling uneasy. He had seen his own eyes reflected in his opponents.
That boy was hiding something.
But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to care.
*SMASH*
He was too surprised to think about anything else at that moment.
"The fight has only just begun and Izuku Midoriya is completely frozen!"
'His body was moving on his own.
As the outlines of nine figures formed from the darkness and became more defined, each figure glaring into his soul.
'His brain felt full of fog, unable to create clear thoughts.
Izuku watched them as his body uncontrollably forced himself forward, making one of the outlines much more clear, allowing him to see the simple details of the closest figures' faces.
'So many people are watching, so many people I want to make proud.
Izuku observed each of them carefully. As he felt the power of one for all growing in the veins in his fingertips.
'So many people I want to prove myself to.'
As 8 figures with glowing yellow eyes and one with a set of blood-red pupils came closer and closer.
*SMASH*
Izukus fingers tore and bled as the faces of 9 people flashed before his eyes. The dark tunnel in the distance long since turned dark and empty. As Izuku began to catch his breath and turn around, a flash of pain gripped at his stomach causing him to fall slightly forward, stepping forward to keep his body as he hunched over and grabbed his abdomen to try and soothe the sickly ache.
He looked up at the sound of the screaming crowd cheering around them and turned around and eyed his Shinso, hand twitching from the pain radiating through it, causing the boy to pace back in shock. It was a stroke of luck that his own blood smelt revolting and wasn't enough to make his eye uncontrollable switch in front of everyone.
Just as he was about to take a step towards his opponent the speakers rang out over the stadium.
"Izuku Midoriya is out of bounds! The winner, from the general class, Shinso Hitoshi!"
Izuku froze stilled as Midnight's words registered in his head, tears starting to form in his eyes.
Slowly, he trembled as he looked down at his foot just over the boundary edge, causing him to take a shuddering breath in as the realization hit him.
He had lost...
"What the-Impossible.." Shinsos words broke him out of his shock as he looked back up at his victor.
"How did you break out of my control," Shinso called out to him, confusion flooding his face.?
lzuku remained silent and slowly looked back down at his feet before rubbing the building tears away as he straightened up and stared at his opponent.
"Your quirk isn't villainous..."He began quietly with a sniff as he took a shuddering breath in, fingers twitching in pain.
"It's how you use your quirk which defines whether it is evil or not."
lzuku lowered his head and lowered his voice so
only Shinso could hear him.
"….there are quirks out there which truly are villainous..." He whispered before sucking in the shame and misery, looking back with a hard stare.
"Your quirk was never villainous to begin with."
lzuku, realizing what he had said, began to panic and began to quickly walk out of the arena leaving a stunned Hitoshi behind him.
The trip to Recovery Girls office was shorter than he wanted. As soon as he had stepped into the corridors away from the stadium he was swept up by her robots and shuttled off to her for a kiss, even though his fingers had already begun to heal, slowly draining away his energy. He remembered seeing All Might and Recovery Girl talking before he drifted off from the unnecessary kiss he had been given.
When he finally woke up he heard a ruffle of clothing beside him. He opened his eyes and saw Ochakos back facing you as she was turned looking at something on the side table.
"Uraraka-san…" He called out as his dry throat itched in the process making him begin to cough catching her attention. At the sound of his voice, she reached up and grabbed a glass of water from the side before turning to face him.
"Deku-kun! You're finally awake! I was starting to-"
She cut herself off as she momentarily froze as she looked at his face before smiling worriedly and giving him the glass of water, which Izuku downed quickly.
Uraraka got up from the seat next to his bed and began looking for something.
"You were asleep so long I was getting really worried you know, Deku."
Izuku slowly lifted his aching body up on the bed.
"Whose match is next?" He murmured out as he rubbed his eyes. Uraraka looked up from the drawer she was searching in Recovery girls cupboards when she turned around to look at him sympathetically.
"The sports festivals ended, Deku-Kun. Recovery Girls in another surgery room performing surgery on Todoroki-sans arm." She turned back to the cupboarded and pulled out a small bag she had found hanging inside. "It's a good thing too... If she had been in here when you had woken up I don't know what would have happened."
Izuku looked quizzically at his friend. "What are you talking about..."
Uraraka stood up from the cupboard she was looking in and turned back around to him, in her hand was a blood bag instantly making Izuku go on edge.
"What are you-" She cut him off as she approached him carefully and handed him her phone set on the camera app.
"Your eye, you've used up too much energy. I don't know how your quick works but we've got to find a wayto turn it off."
A way to hide what kind of monster you truly are.
Izuku warily took the bag and opened it up and began to sip at it. The taste of human blood instantly hit his deprived senses causing him to squish the bag in his hands as he chugged the whole thing down ravenously. Uraraka nervously watched from the side as he drank the whole 500ml bag down in one go. Once he had finished the bag and calmed down he pulled it away from his lips and looked at it with sullen eyes as tears began to form.
The hand holding the bag dropped down onto the sheets below him as his other hand came up to his face and hid his eyes as he cried. Urarakas nervousness simultaneously disappearing as she saw grief take over the boys' appearance. She quickly took the bag from his hand and threw it uncaringly into the bin. Before pulling him into a hug.
"-i lost.." He sniffled out as he choked on a sob.
Uraraka remained silent as Izuku cried into her shoulder.
"I wanted to prove to everyone I could be a hero. I want to prove to myself that I can still be a hero after everything I've done..." Izuku sniffed as he wiggles slightly in Urarakas hold so he could rub the tears away from his eyes.
"How can I be a hero if I couldn't even beat Shinso.
How can I be a hero if that quirk keeps affecting me at every turn?"
Izuku knew deep down that Shinso Hitoshi had one his match fair and square. He knew he was being petty yet he could help but feel angry at himself.
He knew deep down it wasn't fair on Hitoshi to keep hating him because he thought his amazing quirk was villainous. Shinso has lived his life with his own struggles and doubts of himself. Doubting his abilities and quirk, whether they were hero material or not.
Izuku couldn't help but feel jealous.
He remained silent as Uraraka rubbed his back to calm him down.
Uraraka pulled away from him slightly and looked him in the eyes, wiping away a tear with her thumb. Noticing his eyes had turned back to normal she smiled down at him.
"You have already proven yourself worthy as a hero many times over Deku-Kun. I know words won't change your view in an instant but please don't give up. Things will get better, we will find a way."
Izuku felt disappointed in himself and weak. Slowly he huffled up out of bed and looked out the window, the sun slowly setting causing the sun to turn slowly red. Uraraka followed his line of sight.
Izuku sighed before slowly pushing himself up off the bed.
"I need to get going, I don't know how long that bag will last me, probably an hour or so...
Uraraka grinned before nodding in understanding.
Izuku stretched his slightly stiff muscles out before turning towards Uraraka with a blank face as he held himself together.
"Thank you... Uraraka-san, for helping me today..." He murmured out before walking out the room, Ochako watching his back worriedly as he left. The door closed behind him and Uraraka stood motionless in the middle of the room.
As time ticked on tears began to form on her own face. She was stuck in a situation she didn't know how to handle properly. No amount of reassurance would ever stop her from worrying over him.
She had thought after the talk they had after the
USJ that things would have improved, now she knew that was only wishful thinking. Each day she felt as if he was pushing her away from her, trying to create an invisible barrier between the two.
Each time was making it feel as if her worrying was on yannoying him.
As tears began to roll down her face Recovery girl walked into the room causing her to quickly rub the tears away.
Recovery girl didn't seem to notice her as she walked in as she walked over to her desk on the other side of the room, it was only a sniffle that Uraraka made while leaving the room which caught her attention. She looked up from her desk in surprise and turned around to look at the young girl.
"Oh Uraraka, do you need anything darling?" She asked kindly, frowning slightly at the small tear stains on the students' face. She leaned over to look around her and noticed her other patient had gone causing her to sigh. That boy was just as bad as his mentor.
Uraraka plastered on a fake smile and rubbed the back of her head. "No Recovery Girl I'm fine, I was just leaving." She said as she slowly shifted towards the door.
The hero nodded, "All right, just remember what I said about taking care of your wound over the weekend. If you have any problems, come and see me on Monday and i'll check it over."
Uraraka nodded in understanding, smiling and waving a bye to Recovery Girl before heading home.
As the door closed behind her, Recovery got to work throwing away any bit of medical material in the bin that she had used during the latest procedure on Todoroki. As she walked over to the bin she looked down into the black bag and noticed something shiny and tinted red at the bottom of the bin.
That's strange, she thought as she bent down slightly to get a look in the bin
Her eyes widened slightly as her brain registered the empty blood bag at the bottom of the bin, causing her to look to the door a student from class 1-A had left.
She couldn't remember using a blood bag in this room...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone