บท 58: Chapter 58: UA Sports Festival (II)

"Onto the 'preliminaries', as they're called! Lots of fine folk end up choking on their tears every year!! And this year's first round of destiny is..."

As she spoke, a screen appeared behind Midnight and showed a picture. More specifically, it showed two large words,"Obstacle Race."

"...Obstacle race!! All eleven classes will participate in this race. The course will be the other circumference of this stadium, which is about four kilometres long!"

She let out a sadistic smile as she faced the students,"Our school's selling point is freedom, fufufufu...Well, this is what it's all about! You're free to do anything you want, anything, as long as you stay within the course! Now, take your place everyone."

Izuku, who heard those rules, frowned a little, before looking at his arms and sighing.

'I mustn't let All Might's expectations down. I should at least fight to get top three, and if possible, first place.'

The moment he heard that it was free for all, he immediately understood that only one person could win this race.

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All Might, who was sitting in the VIP section, watched this with a large smile. He really wanted Izuku to win this race, and hoped for the best. There wasn't too much competition for him in his age group, not counting Shido of course, so he wasn't too worried about Izuku.

He knew that he would never become over-confident in whatever he does, nor will he become arrogant when he finally manages to utilise all of One for All's potential.

His shy personality was still there, but when it comes to things and matters related to heroes, he would become a lot more determined and have a much stronger resolve.

'He would be a great hero in the future. I'm sure of it.'

"UA students of the first year are really unlucky, don't you think?" Shido's voice rang out from beside All Might.

"Hm? Why do you say so? If you were the same age as them and decided to go through the actual procedure to become a pro hero, they would have been even more unlucky, don't you think so?" All Might replied to him, emphasising on the phrase 'go through the actual procedure'.

Shido, as though he didn't hear his emphasis at all, just laughed and continued,"Hahaha, maybe. But even without me, there are three people on another level this year. Izuku with One for All, Katsuki with his explosions and Shoto with his ice and fire quirk."

"Don't look down on others. What if someone managed to defeat them?"

"Of course. Let's not count those from the business and other classes, and just look at class 1-B. There's a guy who can copy quirks, and another who can control their mind. If they manage to use the correct strategy to fight against them, they have a chance to win."

"Well, let's just see how they performed. Because I had utterly slaughtered the villains during the USJ incident, it seems that the students have mellowed out their overly prideful and happy-go-lucky attitude. Well, most of them anyways."

"Alright then. Oh, and where is Eri?"

"She's co-"

"I'm here! Hello Uncle Toshinori! And Shido, why didn't you take me with you this morning?"

"DIdn't you say that you were going to the Dojo?"

"The Dojo master had forgotten to tell me that they were closed for today since they wanted to watch the UA sports festival."

"And that's why I didn't bring you here immediately. Knowing you, you would probably have skipped it either ways, so I let Yoshinon roam around to find you."

"And I did my job well! You can reward me. by giving me an apple now." Out of nowhere, the puppet popped out and praised himself.

"..." Shido was speechless at him but still gave him an apple nonetheless.

"Sorry to interrupt your friendly chat, but can I ask how is your current investigation going?" All Might interrupted halfway after returning the greeting to Eri.

"I managed to find the previous hideout of Kurogiri, the blast misty guy. But it seemed that they moved somewhere inaccessible to someone without a teleportation skill. Tomura had disappeared from jail a few days earlier with the help of Kurogiri, but he would still be useless either way since his quirk is still sealed."

"I see...do you think there is any chance for him to return?"

"Him? Very obviously, he's definitely behind this. But you don't have to worry about that powerful quirk going into the hands of him. I've permanently sealed the quirk into his body and made it inaccessible to anyone. But the bigger problem is that there is another guy present with Kurogiri."

"Another villain?"

"Perhaps he's grooming another successor. Like you are."

"Hm...this is troublesome. I could barely fight against him in my prime. Now that I'm getting weaker, the only option is to either fight him now in my current condition, or wait a few years later for Midoriya-shounen to fight his successor instead."

"But knowing him, he probably wouldn't wait a few years."

"Yes, so now what we need to do is to hurry with Midoriya-shounen's training. I didn't want to rush his training, but it seems that time doesn't wait for anyone."

"Ano...who's the guy are you talking about?" Eri was listening on to their conversation but couldn't make heads or tails out of it. She could only recognise words like 'successor' and 'Kurogiri'. Being a friend of Shido lets you know a lot of classified information that the public probably wouldn't know.

"'He' refers to Uncle Toshinori's greatest enemy, All for One. But don't tell anybody."

"Alright." Eri agreed easily as she knew the danger that she would be exposed to if she leaked important information. Information that a lot of people would sacrifice anything to get their hands on.

"You better be careful, All Might." Shido warned him.

All Might merely smiled and replied as he clenched his fist,"Don't worry. I am always careful. Nothing will happen to me."

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While the trio were in the VIP area chatting away, all of the students stood in front of the door as they waited for the signal.

Izuku was feeling particularly tense.

Getting the top three would be in no way easy. Tenya aside, in terms of speed, neither Katsuki nor Shoto were slouches despite them not having a quirk related to speed. Frankly, if he wasn't so enthusiastic about fighting, these guys would be at the top of class 1-A.

'I lack a large amount of information.' Izuku thought to himself. It wasn't very unexpected.

Even though he has the stats of the students in 1-A, the other classes are blank for him. In fact, the only reason why he even had the stats of class 1-A in the first place was due to them being in the same class. With his shy personality outside combat, he would never have dared to go to the other classes to find out more about their quirks.

'Well, I will just wing it.' Although he was slightly nervous because of unknown factors, he decided not to think too much about it and react according to the situation.

"START!!!"

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It was like watching a race of predators. They all began to rush towards the door as if a juicy, fatty prey was in their sights.

Present Mic said as he addressed Shota Aizawa,"OKAY!!! Here is the start of the race. What are your thoughts dry eyes?"

Shota, the ever stoic man, didn't bat an eyelid at being called 'dry eyes'. He and Present Mic were friends since their time as students at UA. Well, more like Present Mic annoying Shota since their time as students, but that was besides the point. This kind of bantering was normal between them.

"You are the one who forced me to come."

"Actually, it was actually Shido's idea, though I did help a little. But don't mind the small details. So, what should we pay attention to during the early stages?"

"Hey. Don't drag me down with you." Shido's voice could be heard in the background but the two ignored it.

"This."

The moment he said so, a wave of cold air immediately washed the gate before Shoto went out of it, preventing most of his teammates from moving.

Unfortunately or fortunately, this move only affected normal students. The nest one was fast enough to react and avoid this trap. In fact, basically all the students of class 1-A managed to avoid it.

Shota nodded in appreciation and continued to watch the race. What followed was an impressive display of skills and power from Shoto and Katsuki who had completely destroyed the giant robots. One with his ice and the other with his explosions.

"Seems like Katsuki's personality came back." Shido commented as he watched the ash-blond chasing after Shoto from just a mere metre away while screaming his head off.

"Why do you say as if it's a good thing? Wasn't it good when he was quiet?" All Might asked curiously.

"And that's why you are more of a hero rather than a teacher. If a student's personality suddenly changes from an explosive, aggressive boy to a meek, quiet boy, wouldn't you think something is wrong?"

Seeing that All Might was pondering about his statement, Shido continued,"So the fact that he turned back to normal is actually good. If he had continued his silent and quiet behaviour, I would have taken him to the infirmary to get his brain checked sooner or later."

"AMAZING!!! TODOROKI IS IN THE LEAD. AS EXPECTED OF A RECOMMENDED STUDENT. BUT NOT FAR BEHIND HIM IS BAKUGO! WITH THE INTERESTING AND CREATIVE USAGE OF HIS EXPLOSIONS, HE MANAGED TO KEEP UP WITH TODOROKI."

Shota nodded and was about to comment when Present Mic continued,"AND LOOK AT WHO IS BESIDE BAKUGO? IZUKU, WITH HIS STRENGTHENING QUIRK, HE MANAGED TO KEEP UP WITH THE DUO WITH PURE SPEED AND STAMINA. AS EXPECTED OF THE NUMBER ONE STUDENT!"

[A/N: Yes, Izuku is number 1 in the cohort. If you wanna complain, go ahead. If you don't like Izuku, it's really your opinion. Personally, I don't really care but since I'm following REDLAW's op Izuku, Izuku is op here as well.]

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"START!!!"

'Full cowl: 10%'

The moment Izuku heard the signal for them to begin, he immediately activated One for All and jumped. And his decision to do that proved to be correct since immediately after doing so, a wave of cold ice washed over the ground. A grim smile formed on his face as he thought,'As expected, Todoroki is a crowd control type, his quirk really shines in an enclosed space.'

'He really is merciless.'

Izuku used the walls as springboards, jumping from one wall to the other as he continued to think about the weakness and strengths of all his year one classmates. Even though he had gotten One for All, he had never forgotten about his main strength - his sharp and rational mind (except at the sludge incident where he just jumped in without any plan).

As such, he made the habit of observing all his teammates and writing down info he knew about them. At this level, it wouldn't be a mistake to say that he was more like a spy than a hero. He finally went out, and what greeted him was the sight of Todoroki, Kacchan and giant robots like the ones he had fought against during the entrance exams, only this time there were more than one of them.

'They are really strong. I can't afford to become complacent.'

After avoiding the remains of the giant robots, he immediately began to run at his fastest speed possible at 10% of One for All in order to catch up to the two of them.

'15%'

He used even more of One for All and began catching up to them. Todoroki was skating by using his ice, while Kacchan was 'flying' at low altitude. He was exploding periodically to keep propel himself forward, so he only managed to touch the ground every twenty metres or so. And even then, it only took him less than a second before he was up in the air once again, allowing him to be ahead of him.

Still, this didn't disturb Izuku at all. He continued to slowly, but surely, accelerate until they reached the second checkpoint. It was basically a vast canyon full of cliffs. Each of those little peaks were connected by rather thin ropes.

'UA will always surprise me. Just when did they build such a stage?'

Still, while this could stump those at the back, this was, of course, no problem for the current group in the lead.

Izuku, seeing Todoroki still in the lead, couldn't help but hesitate a little.

'Should I use it now?'

He hurriedly shook his head. This was supposed to be a trump card, but it would also injure him a little, At this point, it was still in the middle of the race and in case anything unexpected happens, he would be slowed instead. He couldn't afford to use it now.

As such, he decided that it was better to just boost himself a little.

'30%'

Izuku could feel his body crack a little. He had trained himself desperately, and in return he could bear with the pain of 30% of One for All, though it was still slightly painful.

"Let's jump!"

Then, under the amazed eyes of the crowd, thanks to pure physical power, Izuku completely ignored the ropes and jumped from cliff to cliff in order to reach Todoroki. By doing so, he managed to overtake his childhood friend.

"DEKU!!!!"

Katsuki couldn't accept it and also began to strain himself in order to accelerate and catch up to Izuku.

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