MHA Universe, Earth, Japan, Musutafu.
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~!*
The crowd's cheers continued as Midnight let her gaze scan the crowd.
"Well, she definitely knows how to work a crowd." Alfonzo said from the stands in the Sports Festival stadium.
"So, that's the kind of woman you're into, huh?" Rumi said while shooting Alfonzo a side eye.
"Maybe..." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Who knows."
'Lici would definitely like you more than Midnight, though.' Alfonzo continued in his mind.
At the same time, Midnight, or rather Nemuri, continued to let her gaze scan the crowd. She then moved on to the students.
Seeing the determination in those young eyes, Nemuri's smile widened. At the same time, she noticed that there were quite a few hostile gazes aimed at Class 1-A. And that made her smile even wider.
'No, wait...' Nemuri thought to herself as she followed the hostile gazes one by one. 'Although they are all aimed at Class 1-A, most of them are aimed at a specific person.'
Finally, Nemuri's gaze landed on Tatsuo, who stood at the front of Class 1-A as its class representative. And when she saw the confident smile that bordered on conceited that spread across his handsome face, her interest grew ever so slightly.
'I wonder if he said something that drew so many hostile gazes.' Nemuri wondered. 'Or is it because they are just jealous of his good looks? Most of the ones glaring at him are males, after all.'
Mentally shaking off that line of thought for the moment, Nemuri raised the microphone to her full lips and spoke in her characteristically husky, seductive tone.
"Alright, we all know why we are here today." Nemuri said. "Today is the U.A., Sports Festival for the first-year students of our illustrious institution. And now, let us welcome the first-year student representative, Soramoto Tatsuo, to the stage to say a few words."
With that said, Tatsuo, his smile never fading, stepped forward, breaking away from the rest of his class. He then made his way up to the stage where Nemuri . st
Receiving the microphone when he arrived, Tatsuo nodded to Nemuri as she stepped back, giving him the stage for his short speech. He then took a deep breath before addressing the students and the audience with no signs of stage fright in his expression or tone.
"On behalf of the first-year students of U.A., I'd like to thank everyone who has come to encourage us during this important event." Tatsuo said, his smooth tone drawing impressed gasps from many of the female members of the audience. "As the representative of the first-years, I'd like to say on behalf of all the other students... We will strive with all our might to show you what the next generation of Heroes are capable of and what you all have to look forward to in the future."
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
Hearing Tatsuo's declaration, the crowd went wild. But it was not only the civilians in the audience. Even a number of Pro Heroes who were present were impressed by Tatsuo's short speech. At least, they were until he opened his mouth to continue.
"And to my classmates, I have one question." Tatsuo said, his words temporarily silencing the crowd. He then continued with a challenging smile on his face. "Who's coming in second?"
The audacity behind Tatsuo's question caused everyone to go into a daze for a few seconds. Then, when their brains finally finished processing what they just heard, cheers, jeers, and excited squeals exploded throughout the entire stadium.
In fact, the question was so blatantly provocational that even Nemuri, who was used to controversy, was left with her mouth hanging open slightly due to the sheer surprise she was feeling at the moment.
Meanwhile, after handing Nemuri the microphone, Tatsuo leisurely made his way back to his place among the Class 1-A students with a smile on his face while ignoring all the hostile glares from the other students.
"Was that really necessary?" Sakura asked once Tatsuo had returned.
"Not at all." Tatsuo replied casually. Then, he shrugged as he continued. "But it should make things more interesting at the very least."
"You're impossible sometimes." Akatsuki groaned. "You do realize you just painted a huge target on your back, right?"
"Naturally." Tatsuo replied, his tone still as nonchalant as ever.
The uproar continued for a little while after that. However, it was eventually broken when…
*Crack!*
… Nemuri raised her whip and cracked it against the stage, drawing the attention of the stadium back onto herself.
"That was a rather… provocative speech from our student representative." Nemuri said, a hint of amusement in her tone. "Though declarations of victory are not rare during this event, that was one of the more creative ways to make one that I've heard since I started hosting the U.A. Sports Festival."
The crowd could not help but agree with Nemuri's assessment. However, before they could start discussing the matter, Nemuri spoke in to the microphone once again.
*Crack!*
"But that is not why we are here today." Nemuri said, cutting through the chatter before it could even begin. "Instead, we are here to see these young, aspiring Heroes push themselves to gain glory and recognition. And that will be done over a series of randomly chosen events. Now, please look at the screen behind me to see what event will start today's festivities."
With that, Nemuri raised the hand holding the whip, she pointed at a large screen behind her. And just as she did, the screen powered on and began cycling through the names of all the possible events that could show up during the Sports Festival.
"So, do you think it will be like canon?" Akatsuki asked quietly.
"No idea." Tatsuo replied with a shake of his head. "But if it is, this really won't be much of a challenge at all. Well, the first event won't, anyway"
"If it is like the canon, I want to be on your team later." Sakura chimed in.
"Sure." Tatsuo replied with a smile. "I'd love to have you."
Sakura's smile was bright enough to illuminate the darkness in any villain's heart. Meanwhile, the cycling event name slowly came to an end, drawing all eyes in the venue to the screen.
"And our first event will be…" Nemuri said, drawing out her words in time with the end of the cycle. "Obstacle Race!"
With Nemuri's announcement, the sound of mechanical devices could be heard throughout the stadium. And when the audience looked around, they could see the track outlining the stadium grounds beginning to transform in real time.
On one section of the nearly two and a half mile long track, panels peeled away revealing large holes in the ground. However, before the audience could start asking what the holes were for, more mechanical sounds drew their attention. Then, only a moment later, the heads of large robots poked out of the holes before the holes were filled in by the lifts where those robots stood.
On another section of the track, the ground sank downward, leaving a wide chasm in its place. Then, from openings in one side of the sheer cliff face that was created, small windows opened. In each of these windows were harpoons fastened with sturdy ropes that were fired across the chasm creating rope pathways for the contestants to make their way across. On top of that, tall rock pillars grew from the depths of the chasm to add another way for the contestants to get across, as well.
On yet another portion of the track, the changes were much more subtle. Rather, the track itself did not change. Instead, a number of robot scurried out onto the track laying down sand in thick layers while another group of robots planted landmines to hinder contestants movements.
And finally, on the last portion of the track, the area on each side of the track opened up. From those openings, sheets of metal and gears rose from the ground before locking together in specific sequences to create a tunnel. At the same time, signs were placed at one end of the tunnel, letting everyone know that the tunnel was where the race would begin and end.
"Now, to all my lovely hopefuls, please follow the signs and take your places at the starting line." Nemuri said, purring sultrily into the microphone once all the preparations were complete. "The Obstacle Race will begin shortly. So, don't be late. Otherwise, you'll be disqualified."
Hearing the word, "disqualified," most of the students rushed toward the tunnel where the race would begin. Meanwhile, Tatsuo took his sweet time. Akatsuki and Sakura, not particularly bothered by their starting positions, also followed Tatsuo at a leisurely pace.
So, it was no surprise that by the time the trio made it to the starting line, they were at the very back of the pack. And when the boys saw that Tatsuo would be disadvantaged by his starting position, they all sneered before making eye contact with the other nearby boys.
"Yeah, they're gonna definitely try to make sure that you can't get past them." Akatsuki said blandly. "From the look in their eyes, they're actually going to give up any shot they had at making it past this round to make sure that you don't make it to the next round, as well."
"Looks that way." Tatsuo replied with an easy going smile. "If only they knew how pointless it will be."
Because Tatsuo did not lower his voice when he responded to Akatsuki's observation, all the nearby boys heard him loud and clear. As a result, they grew even more hostile and decided they would try even harder to make sure that Tatsuo did not make it to the next round. Meanwhile, Akatsuki and Sakura only shook their heads at the boys' naivety.
{"Alright, all the students are in position!"} Hizashi shouted over the speaker system. {"It looks like it's time to get this party started. And as it just so happens, my color-commentator has just arrive. So, Eraser, how about you give the starting signal?"}
{"*sigh* Can I say no?"} Shota, who had just arrived in the broadcast box, asked in his usual uninterested tone.
{"Of course not!"} Hizashi said with a little more than a little too much energy for Shota's taste.
{"I figured."} Shota replied in a tone that suggested he would rather be anywhere but here. {"then, go…"}
Shota's unenthusiasm left the crowd and the student at a loss for a second. However, there were a few people who reacted immediately upon hearing the word, "go."
First was Shoto, who immediately froze the ground in the tunnel, sticking all the students to the floor with little effort as he propelled himself forward with is [Quirk].
*Boom!*
At the same time, Katsuki leapt from the ground, explosions bursting from his palms, and flew out of the tunnel at a speed that did not lose to Shoto.
Then, there was Akatsuki, who, using her supernatural agility, leapt towards the nearest wall, kicked off of it, and hit the ceiling, running along it as if it were the ground to skip past the other students.
But the ones who had the easiest times were Tatsuo and Sakura.
First, Tatsuo used [Blink] to completely bypass the crowd, and about a quarter of the track, as he reappeared in front of the robot obstacle. At the same time, Sakura sank into her [shadow Space] before reappearing from Tatsuo's shadow.
"Seriously, you're just gonna use me to catch a ride." Tatsuo asked while looking at Sakura over his shoulder.
"It's the most efficient way." Sakura replied simply.
"Whatever." Tatsuo said with a shrug. "Then, just try to keep up."
With that, Tatsuo [Blinked] again. And Sakura sank into her [Shadow Space] for the second time before they both reappeared in front of the chasm less than a second apart. Repeating the process, the next time the crowd saw them, they were in front of the mine field. And finally, the two appeared in front of the finish line a moment after that.
Seeing the ease with which Tatsuo and Sakura finished the race, the crowd was left at a bit of a loss. In fact, it was not just the crowd, even Hisashi, who knew what the two were capable of, yet had not seen them in action since the Entrance Exam, was also at a loss. In fact, because he was so dumbfounded, it fell to Shota to announce the first and second place winners of the first event.
{"*sigh* We really should have seen this coming."} Shota said in a tired tone. {" This was a terrible choice for the first event. It left no suspense about who would come in first and second place. Well, whatever. The first-place finisher is Soramoto Tatsuo of Class 1-A. And the second-place finisher is Matou Sakura, also of Class 1-A."}
Shota's announcement, though not particularly energetic, was enough to snap the crowd out of their dazes. And while that led to some of them getting excited about the spatial [Quirks] they just saw, most of them returned their attention to the race where the rest of the first-year students were pushing themselves as hard as they could to get good placings in the race.
And by now, there were several standout competitors who were at the front of the pack.
Naturally, Katsuki and Shoto were among the frontrunners. Along with them was Izuku, whose use of [One for All] was much smoother than it was at this point in the canon. Then, there was Akatsuki and Momo. While Akatsuki leveraged her enhanced speed to keep up with the others, Momo's use of her [Creation Quirk] made traversing the obstacles and straight aways look effortless.
Lastly, to everyone's surprise, Denki was also among the front runners. And that was all thanks to a piece of advice Tatsuo gave him off-handedly during a training session.
===Flashback===
"Hey, you have resistance to your own electricity, right?" Tatsuo asked curiously.
"Yeah, to most electricity, actually." Denki replied while wiping sweat from his brow between exercises.
"Then, why do you only use it externally?" Tatsuo asked while tilting his head in confusion. "If I were you, I'd use it to stimulate my muscles and stuff for faster movement and strengthening. I mean, my cousin does the same thing. How do you think he keeps up with a monster like Mirko during their spars?"
The way Denki's eyes widened after hearing that made it clear that he had never considered something like that in the past.
"But you'd better not push it too far until you're used to it." Tatsuo added, a prediction of Denki almost crippling himself from overstraining his muscles quite clear in his mind.
And it went without saying that the first time Denki tried to enhance himself with electricity, he ended up in the nurse's office being lectured by Recovery Girl for over an hour. But he did eventually begin to get the hang of it.
===Flashback End===
Eventually, the race came to an end with the top forty-two students moving onto the next round. And to no one's surprise, most of the passing students were from the Hero Course. Though, Class 1-A did not monopolize all the top spots, as Class 1-B students showed the crowd that they were not to be taken lightly either.
However, there were a few exceptions. One of which was the short, perverted student from General Studies Class 1-D, Minetta Minoru. Then, there was another student from General Studies from Class 1-E, Shinso Hiroshi. And finally, there was Mei from Support Class 1-G.
Unfortunately, that meant that one of the Hero Class students did not make it into the second round. Meaning, if what Shinso said was true, there was a chance that he would not be a Hero Course student for very long.
And that student was actually a Class 1-A student. Aoyama Yuga, with his stomach in knots from overusing his [Quirk], [Naval Laser] stumbled past the finish line in forty-third place, ending his run in the Sports Festival at the first event.