Izuku Midoriya stared unblinkingly at the screen onstage, his body frozen stiff.
It couldn't be. There must be some malfunction.
He carefully went through the listed names, repeating this action over and over- as if doing so would cause that name to magically appear. But no. It really wasn't there.
After checking it for more than a dozen times, he finally accepted it. His childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugo, had been eliminated!
"…"
Midoriya didn't know why he found that so shocking. It's not like Kacchan was invincible. In fact, in their class alone, there was Hiro who could defeat- and had already defeated- him.
But this time, it felt different. Maybe because Hiro's strength was so absurd that being beaten by him feels natural, or that those were done in the name of training, or maybe…
He glanced up at the screen again. However, this time, his eyes didn't look for the name of his friend, instead, he glanced at the fifth name on the list- his own name.
Midoriya clenched his fist. He felt the blood in his body boil. In this event, he qualified, but Kacchan did not.
Although there was no direct fight between them. Although he was in a team and Kacchan was not. Although Kacchan most likely lost his scarf because he challenged Ryugamine.
But Midoriya couldn't suppress the surge of excitement that welled up inside him. For the first time in his life, he won against Bakugo. He really wasn't just some Quirkless kid anymore. The useless Deku is finally-!
"Deku? Deku! Hellooo!"
"Ah! U-Urararaka! What's wrong?"
"Heehee, I'm just as happy as you for getting to the third round, but we need to leave. Present Mic said that we only have an hour to eat lunch."
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
Midoriya scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. Uraraka didn't mind. She just giggled cutely, which made his heart flip flop.
The two of them said goodbye to Koda, who had gone to eat with Sato. Instead, they met up with Iida, whose head hung low.
Midoriya only then remembered not seeing Iida's name in the top 16 as well.
He suppressed the twinge of guilt for not noticing that as he and Uraraka comforted the Engine boy.
…
"Huh? Iida? What do you mean you don't know how you lost your scarf?"
"You misunderstood, Uraraka-san. It's not that I don't know, it's that I don't remember."
"Is there a difference?"
Ochaco asked, her head tilted in confusion. They were currently seated in the cafeteria, just having finished eating their lunch.
"Hmm. We encountered Tokoyami-san's team and fought them. The fight was going well at first, with us having a slight edge. However…"
Iida frowned, his glasses glinting as he somberly continued.
"One of our opponents suddenly commanded my teammate Setsuna-san to stop mid-battle, and she obeyed. After that, he did the same with Awase-san."
"Our situation became dangerous. I wanted to pull my teammates away for a strategic retreat. However, he also gave me a command, and the next thing I knew, our scarves were now missing and the event was over."
Iida sighed, still feeling frustrated at how he was so easily taken out of the sports festival.
Especially when he thought about how his brother and parents were watching- it made him want to just run away to the middle of nowhere.
"A Quirk that establishes control after hearing the user's voice? That's so powerful! Though from what you said, he could only take control of one person at a time. However, it seems after being controlled, he can choose whether or not to release them. Other than that, the victim also forgets the events during that period. What else could it do? Are the victims able to still use their Quirk when under this condition? Though if they have no consciousness, maybe they could only perform basic actions? How about the conditions? If he can establish control just through his voice, then could a megaphone work? Or does he also need to be in the line of sight for the command to take effect?…"
Iida and Ochaco sweatdropped as Midoriya began to drone on and on about the mind control Quirk. They looked at each other, before Iida coughed and interrupted.
"Midoriya-kun, our team has also talked about what happened on the way back. We agree that his Quirk likely needs others to respond to him before he could control them. Therefore, when you meet Shinso Hitoshi during the third event, you must be extra careful to not talk back. You as well, Uraraka-san."
"I see, thank you, Iida! I'll definitely be extra careful!"
"Ah! M-me too!"
Iida smiled and nodded. If this information is at least able to help his friends not fall into the same situation, his failure would not be so worthless.
After lunch, there was a recreational activity for the students that didn't qualify. Midoriya and Ochaco watched Iida participate in a relay race, both of them cheering him on from the side.
"Hmm? Is that…Hiro-kun's family?"
Ochaco's question caught Midoriya's attention. He followed her gaze, and saw Hiro, Mina, Momo, Kirishima, and the girl from the support course sitting near the front stands, surrounded by a group of kids.
"It looks like it. There's so many of them!"
"Yeah! He must have brought everyone from the orphanage. Hiro-kun's really so nice and gentle."
"Hmm?"
Midoriya turned to Ochaco, his brows subconsciously furrowing. Her tone…why does it make him feel so uncomfortable?
"What's the matter, Deku-kun?"
"I-it's nothing! I just, uh, Uraraka-san, I notice you call him by his first name? I-I mean, not like there's anything wrong with that, I just didn't know you two were so close."
"Ah, that? Ehehe, it's because you practiced separately so you don't know."
"S-Sorry. You know my Quirk's very destructive before, and I needed the help of Recovery Girl-san so…"
Midoriya said while avoiding her gaze. During the weekend practice sessions, All Might had also been on standby all the time as he trained his Full Cowling. Therefore, he was unable to practice with everyone.
"Silly, I'm not blaming you. Anyways, Hiro-kun taught those of us interested in some basic martial arts. Since I need close contact to activate my Quirk, it was super duper helpful for me! But…"
Uraraka scratched her cheeks, her face turning a bit red as she turned her head and muttered.
"Because I'm a beginner, I often make many mistakes. Hiro-kun often had to interrupt his own practice to correct them. However, he didn't berate me for it. He even took the initiative after classes, staying behind for a while to check my form and correct them."
"He is always so kind and patient. Every time I slipped up in my kata, he would just smile and demonstrate them to me again. And when I finally get it right, he would be so happy for me. Learning under him…it was very fulfilling. Before I knew it, we were already close enough to call each other by our first name."
"R-Ryugamine-san is really awesome, huh? If I hadn't been training my Quirk, maybe I could have asked him to teach me martial arts as well."
Midoriya said, forcing himself to sound cheerful. He didn't know what was wrong with him. After hearing Uraraka's story and seeing the warm smile on her face, cold sweat started to drip from his forehead and his heart clenched in discomfort.
He should have been happy that Uraraka was also progressing. But why couldn't he?
Before he could further ponder why he was feeling this way, the recreational activities finally ended and the third round was announced.
"We're finally at our last event for the day! Now, after two rounds of eliminations, it's time for the formal tournament!"
Present Mic shouted. Even after hosting since early morning, there was no sign of fatigue on the pro hero's voice. It was still as loud and lively as ever.
"Between the 16 remaining members, there will be a series of one-on-one battles. The winners will continue to advance, and the last one standing will be the final winner of the 1st year's Sports Festival!"
The crowd erupted into applause. Every year, the final head to head competition was always the most popular segment of the Sports Festival.
The remaining participating students were called by Midnight on stage to draw lots. As the first in rank, Hiro was also the first to draw a paper, and got 16.
As the rest of the students drew, most of them prayed to get a number as far away from 16 as possible. In the end, the results were:
1. Shoto Todoroki
2. Koji Koda
3. Ochaco Uraraka
4. Yui Kodai
5. Fumikage Tokoyami
6. Momo Yaoyorozu
7. Izuku Midoriya
8. Eijiro Kirishima
9. Mina Ashido
10. Mashirao Ojiro
11. Mei Hatsume
12. Reiko Yanagi
13. Shinso Hitoshi
14. Nirengeki Shoda
15. Shiozaki Ibara
16. Hiro Ryugamine
A/N: The match ups here were semi-random. Hiro and Todoroki were deliberately placed at opposite ends. As for the others, I let the wheel of fate decide who to match them up against. And I have to say, the wheel gave some very interesting match-ups.