A full day quickly passed—the last day students would attend U.A. before their training for the sports festival began.
All day, Yoru was planning his training routine. He wouldn't focus on physicality since he had trained his body for two full years and was in excellent condition. He would only focus on his control over the Hie Hie no Mi.
He remembered there was a nearby park, dense enough for him to train without anyone bothering him.
First, he would practice creating ice structures and see if he could make them mobile. If he managed that, it would give him a huge advantage in the first two parts of the sports festival.
But if he couldn't, Yoru already had a plan for creating basic attacks. He couldn't use anything truly lethal, so he'd have to limit himself to freezing his surroundings or his opponents.
When the day ended, Yoru returned home.
After dinner, he spoke with his mother, who decided to help him with his training, as her former Quirk was capable of generating snow blizzards.
---
In a forest in Musutafu, two people stood.
The first was a beautiful woman with hair as white as snow, fair skin, and red eyes, wearing a sports jersey. This woman was Alice Shirayuki.
In front of the woman was a teenager about 15 years old, quite similar to her, with white hair and light blue eyes. This was Yoru Shirayuki, her son, wearing a light blue sports jersey.
"Alright, Yoru, we'll start your training now."
"Yes, Mom," said Yoru enthusiastically.
"You'll call me 'sensei' while I'm training you, understood, young man?"
"Yes, Mom... I mean, sensei... but why 'sensei'?" asked Yoru, confused.
"Well, because I'm instructing you, that's obvious," replied Alice, rolling her eyes.
"Oh."
"Alright, let's begin. First, try to freeze this rock," Alice instructed, pointing to a rock as large as an adult.
Yoru, without a word, walked to the rock and placed his palm on the hard surface. He felt the cold flow from his body outward and harden. Within seconds, the rock was encased in a thick layer of ice.
"What did you feel?" asked Alice, looking at her son.
"I felt as if something cold passed through my body to the outside," explained Yoru, looking at his palm. He could still feel the cold when using the Hie Hie no Mi.
"That sensation is the essence of your power. Every Quirk, when activated, has something characteristic about it. For example, before, when I had my Quirk, I felt a cold wind inside me," Alice explained.
Yoru nodded.
"Mom... I mean, sensei," Yoru corrected himself quickly.
"Do you miss your Quirk?" he asked curiously.
Alice looked at her son with a thoughtful and nostalgic expression.
"At first, I did miss it, and I was depressed, but then I simply learned to live with it."
"And are you happy even without a Quirk?"
"You're being strangely philosophical today, Yoru," said Alice.
"I just watched a philosophy program last night," he replied.
Alice shook her head.
"Let's continue. Now try to thaw it."
"How do I do that?" Yoru asked, looking at the ice-covered rock.
"I don't know," replied Alice.
Yoru observed the ice covering the rock and had an idea.
Placing his hand on the cold surface, he created more ice, but this time he shaped the entire ice mass, manipulating and compressing it until it formed a ball the size of a basketball.
"Wow. You learn fast."
"I just thought if I can create it, I can mold it," said Yoru, still holding the ice ball.
He didn't even feel the cold emanating from the ball.
"What's the next step in training?"
"Now it's practice. You need to get used to your Quirk. Practice until you can use it more quickly."
Yoru nodded.
For the next several hours, he trained with his Quirk. Thanks to his mother's experience and advice, he made enormous progress that would otherwise have taken him much longer to achieve on his own.
Once the afternoon arrived, the duo decided to call it a day and continue the next morning.
For the following two weeks, Yoru continued training under his mother's guidance.
By the end of the two weeks, Yoru was exhausted, his entire body aching. His mother had pushed him to break his limits continuously in using his Quirk.
He just wanted to sleep, but he couldn't. Today was the U.A. Sports Festival.
Getting ready, he headed to U.A., arriving at the general studies classroom where all his classmates were nervous about the festival. Because Classes A and B would get all the attention, leaving the management, support, and general studies departments feeling unimportant. But Yoru would change that today.
At 8 a.m., everyone changed into the school's gym uniforms and were taken to a waiting area for the first competition.
"Are you nervous, Shirayuki?" asked Shinso with a half-asleep expression.
"A little," admitted Yoru. "Have you seen how many people came?" asked Yoru.
"They came to see Class A and possibly Class B, not us," Shinso replied annoyedly.
"That's true," murmured Yoru before smiling. "However, let's see if that's still true by the end of the day."
Shinso frowned.
"What are you planning, Shirayuki?"
"Oh, nothing. You'll see in due time," he said mysteriously.
"Alright, guys, we have to go now!" shouted the class representative.
The general studies class began walking, leaving the waiting area and entering a vast, open space. Yoru could hear the excited roar of the crowd.
Looking around, he observed the support and management departments, and finally, the hero course classes. Among the students, he spotted a mop of broccoli-green hair—the protagonist.
Present Mic's voice was blaring, heard throughout the stadium.
Finally, they arrived in front of a stage. Yoru didn't hide his excited expression upon seeing Midnight, who was wearing her S&M-themed heroine costume.
'Yes, she's undoubtedly beautiful... and that figure... Good Lord! That rope looks like it's fighting an epic battle to contain so much... adult perfection. I wonder if the school's first aid manual covers fainting from attractiveness overload.' Yoru thought, with a goofy grin and slightly agape mouth.
"You have a perverted look on your face, Shirayuki."
"Shhh, Shinso! Don't interrupt the sacred moment of artistic appreciation," Yoru replied in a dramatic whisper, not taking his eyes off the stage. "Look at that elegance, that confidence, that... professional aesthetic. I'm taking mental notes for my future hero career. Purely academic, of course."
Shinso looked at him with a mix of disbelief and mild disgust. "Your 'academic notes' seem to focus on a very... specific area of study."
"Specialization is key to success! Now hush, the whip-wielding angel of justice is about to speak."
Yoru ignored most of the speech, distracted by the mature woman on the stage, and also ignored the declaration of a spiky-haired blonde student with a shorter fuse than a stick of dynamite.
Finally, after announcing the first event—an obstacle race—Yoru prepared himself. He would have to secure a place among the top ranks to get the points he needed to advance to the second event.
His main goal, however, was actually the third event: the combat matches.