Usually, the highlight of U.A.'s annual Sports Festival revolves around the third years. They're stronger, more experienced, and usually put on a spectacular show that leaves the first years completely overshadowed.
However, this year was… different.
Thanks to the USJ incident making headlines across the entire country, the spotlight had shifted drastically. The first years—especially Class 1-A—were at the center of explosive nationwide attention. Reporters, pros, civilians, even rival schools were waiting to see what kind of monsters U.A. had produced this year. And, of course, the entire class was very aware of this pressure. Everyone trained to their absolute limit, determined to shine on the big stage.
Inside one of the rooms allocated to Class 1-A near the stadium, the entire class was gathered together. The air buzzed with nervous energy and excitement as students chatted about the upcoming festival, brainstorming flashy ways to present themselves to the world. Some were genuinely strategizing; others were basically just hyping themselves up like pre-battle shounen protagonists.
Present Mic's booming voice echoed from the stadium, announcing the start of the festival to the roaring crowd. Just as we were about to step out and face the public, someone blocked my path.
"Todoroki?" I turned to see him standing beside me, his expression as cold as ever—literally, with a faint mist of icy air swirling around him.
He looked straight at me and, in his usual serious tone, declared, "I'm going to beat you… even if you're stronger than me. Be ready."
…Well, that was unexpected. With just his ice? Cute. I resisted the urge to laugh. Not like he'd win even if he used his fire, but hey—he doesn't need to know that.
I smirked, tilting my head slightly. "You won't beat me with just half your power. Forget about competing with me if you're going to half-ass it with your own strength."
That actually caught him off guard. His eyes widened ever so slightly before he composed himself, shot me a cold look, and turned away without another word. Classic Todoroki.
Not long after, we started walking down the special pathway leading into the center of the massive stadium. The noise that greeted us was deafening—cheers, screams, chants.
Thousands of spectators were packed into the stands, and the energy hit us like a tidal wave. Some of my classmates looked visibly nervous, others were pumped up like this was their big debut.
I casually scanned the crowd and, to my surprise, spotted my parents waving enthusiastically. I returned a small wave—it felt weirdly nostalgic.
Just like us, all the other classes (A–K) gathered together. Of course, only Class 1-A and 1-B were part of the Hero Course. Classes C, D, and E were General Studies; F, G, and H were Support; and I, J, K were Business.
Business students weren't participating—they were more interested in evaluating hero prospects and trying to make a quick buck selling merch, no doubt.
From the other courses, only a few faces stood out to me: Hitoshi Shinsō from General Studies, who had some serious potential, and Mei Hatsume from the Support Course—gadget girl extraordinaire.
Oh, and… Mineta. The midget grape-fruit pervert himself. He was in General Studies this time, ogling at our class's girls with his usual disgusting expression. His presence alone made the air feel 10% greasier.
Midnight strutted onto the stage, cracking her whip dramatically as she announced the first event: an Obstacle Race. The course spanned around the entire stadium—a 4 km loop filled with various traps and challenges.
Before the race began, Bakugō was called up to deliver the student pledge, as he had scored the highest during the entrance exam. The whole class stared nervously at him, silently praying he wouldn't say something explosive.
He calmly walked to the mic, scanned the crowd, and said, "I'm going to be first. So you extras better watch out."
…Well, so much for subtlety.
Our class immediately became the center of attention again, with murmurs spreading through the stands. Midnight wrapped up her explanation, raised her whip high, and swung it down.
"BEGIN!"
With Present Mic's energetic commentary blasting through the speakers (and Aizawa trying and failing to ignore him), the race started. Watching Present Mic deliberately bait Aizawa into reacting—and actually succeeding—was comedy gold. Stoic Eraser Head momentarily losing his cool? Priceless.
While others charged forward, shoving and jostling each other, I slipped into my rhythm. I decided to show off a little—not too much to make things boring, but enough to remind everyone why the spotlight was on me.
Before anyone could even process what happened, I casually accelerated, gliding past the entire group. The ultra-high-speed U.A. cameras barely managed to keep me in frame. In seconds, I was at the front, staring down the first obstacle: a horde of 0-Pointer robots from the entrance exam.
There were at least sixty or seventy of them, blocking the entire path like mechanical titans. I wondered for a second how much they cost. Then I wondered how much it would cost if I broke all of them.
…Yeah, probably a lot.
I broke all of them anyway.
Present Mic's shocked narration echoed as the crowd watched my movements in slow motion, trying to analyze how I blitzed through the robots. In reality, I simply targeted their cores, hopping from one to another and disabling them in quick succession.
I could've obliterated them all with a single punch, but that would've been overkill. If I wanted to flex, I wouldn't even bother with U.A.—I'd just be a vigilante no one could catch.
Aizawa muttered something about how "wasteful" my actions were, pointing out that I'd just made it easier for the others to pass. Meanwhile, Present Mic was spouting nonsense like, "HE DID IT BECAUSE HE NEEDED A CHALLENGE, FOLKS! THIS GUY'S TOO STRONG!" just to rile up the crowd.
And it worked.
Every other participant behind me was now frothing with indignation, chasing me like a pack of rabid dogs. "Arrogant jerk!" "We don't need your help!" they shouted. I responded with a grin, waved cheekily at my classmates, and then vanished from sight.
A couple of minutes later (I may or may not have spent some time taunting them), I reached the second obstacle: The Fall. Giant stone pillars connected by tightropes stretched across a massive gap.
I took a few steps back… and cleared the entire thing in a single jump. The pro heroes in the stands collectively went "Oooh."
Meanwhile, the others stuck to their canon routines—Tsuyu hopping across, Ida zooming over, Todoroki freezing paths, Bakugō blasting through, Mei using her gadgets, and so on.
After that, I stopped showing off and settled into a slower, more casual pace. The crowd's attention gradually shifted back to the other racers because, well, it was obvious who was winning.
Eventually, Todoroki and Bakugō caught up, and we reached the final obstacle: the minefield. I did exactly what I'd done before—jumped right over it in one smooth motion, then turned around and waved encouragingly. That seemed to hit their pride hard because they both charged through the minefield recklessly, explosions and ice flying everywhere.
In the distance, I saw Midoriya dragging a part of robot with him for some reason, clearly setting up his canon moment. I let him do his thing and casually crossed the finish line first.
The crowd erupted into cheers. Not long after, I heard a massive explosion as Midoriya made his dramatic leap, finishing right after Todoroki and just before Bakugō. Bakugō's furious, vein-popping expression as Midoriya nervously avoided eye contact was pure entertainment.
The rest followed the original rankings, except for Momo placing fifth instead of Ibara from Class 1-B. With me and Momo in the top five, the rest shuffled down accordingly.
As my classmates congratulated me and other students whispered about me being a major threat, Midnight's voice echoed again, explaining the rules for the next round: Cavalry Battle.
The moment she revealed that first place was worth 10 million points, the entire stadium heated up. For a moment, everyone looked ready to fight me to the death. Then… they seemed to reconsider. Realizing they'd basically be chasing after a god with jet engines for legs, the enthusiasm died down.
Even Midnight noticed. After some chatter through her earpiece, she announced a special rule change:— I had to participate solo, without a team.— I couldn't just keep running away the entire time.
That was their idea of "balancing" things. I agreed—honestly, it was more fun this way.
Everyone else scrambled to form teams and hatch strategies—some planning to team up against me, others focusing on knocking out the competition before daring to face me.
And with all their scheming complete, the break ended, and the Cavalry Battle began.