"What a terrifying bird. Is it a Quirk user too?"
Out of a cloud of icy mist came three U.A. students in uniform, two guys and a girl. One of them, a stocky blonde with spiky hair and round eyes, pointed at Pet Shop and asked, "Wait, there are other animals with Quirks besides Principal Nezu?"
"Huh? Her eyes are so scary. Wish she'd chill a little."
Next to him, a curvy girl with long blue curls waved her hand, commenting on Pet Shop.
Pet Shop stared them down, not changing her attitude one bit.
The round-eyed student explained, "Sorry, we're third-years at U.A. We saw your fight from the stands. That was seriously awesome."
"Yeah, yeah!" The blue-haired girl was hyped, jumping up and down. "What's your Quirk? I gotta know!"
These three… Arthur tried to remember, barely recalling who they were, but names escaped him.
"I'm going to sleep." He sat back down in the shade and left it at that.
"Oh? You shy? Don't worry, we can be friends…"
The girl, who had a bit of a baby face, leaned closer with her hands behind her back.
Seriously? Could she not take a hint?
Whoosh!
Before anyone could react, Pet Shop vanished from its spot. Only someone with crazy good eyesight would've seen her flip once just above Arthur's shoulder, then dive straight at the girl's face.
In less than a second.
Pet Shop stopped on a dime. At the same time, [The World] and the round-eyed guy both moved. [The World] grabbed the guy's outstretched wrist, while the guy had already stepped in front of the blue-haired girl with one hand up, clearly trying to grab Pet Shop.
He can keep up with Mirio's speed… thought the purple-haired young man who'd been standing silently with his hands in his pockets. His eyes narrowed in surprise.
"Zzz"
Pet Shop flapped her wings and flew back to Arthur's shoulder. [The World] disappeared into Arthur's body.
"Sorry. Pet Shop automatically attacks anyone who comes near me without permission."
Arthur walked past them.
"I'm Mirio Togata, third-year," the round-eyed guy called after him.
"Nejire Hado! Sorry about that, junior." The blue-haired girl waved, not seeming bothered by nearly getting hit. Then she tugged on the gloomy purple-haired guy. "Hey, Tamaki, you should introduce yourself too."
The guy named Tamaki started shaking and couldn't get a word out.
Arthur left only the name "Arthur" behind as he walked off into the distance.
Lunch break flew by. Some people used every spare second to train, even if they only had an hour. Others chose to rest and let their bodies recover. Arthur's situation was different, though.
Either way, lunch ended fast.
First match: Izuku Midoriya vs. Shoto Todoroki.
Arthur walked through the staff-only hallway, heading to the Class A spectator stands. Pet Shop was already back in the sky. But as he went up the stairs, he ran into a middle-aged man with muscles as huge as All Might's. Flames covered his body, even his mustache was on fire.
The No. 2 Hero, Endeavor.
As they passed each other, Endeavor suddenly said, "You have a mysterious and powerful Quirk, my son's classmate."
Arthur stopped. Endeavor continued, "Win all your matches. My foolish son backed off when he fought you in the second round, but if he uses all the power I gave him, he won't lose. I want you to go all out and force him to use his real power."
How much are you paying me for that?
That's what Arthur would've said before the Yaoyorozu family took him in. But now, he just chuckled and said to Endeavor's back, "What touching fatherly love."
Hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or genuine. Either way, he kept walking toward the Class A stands.
"Arthur, you're here?" Momo Yaoyorozu's face lit up when she saw him approach.
"Something interesting happened." Arthur smiled and sat next to her. Nothing overly affectionate.
Down in the arena, Cementoss, a pro hero and U.A. teacher, had already built the stage in the center. Shoto Todoroki and Izuku Midoriya entered from left and right.
"Go tell the whole world that you're here!" Those words from All Might before the match echoed in Midoriya's mind as he climbed the ring. He hadn't expected to face Todoroki first. And during lunch, Todoroki had told him about his past and why he refused to use his fire.
Midoriya felt sympathy and disbelief. But he wasn't about to lose here.
"Start!!!" Midnight shouted, waving her flail.
Todoroki didn't hold back. He stomped his foot, sending a giant iceberg rushing at Midoriya. He really had no intention of using his fire.
Meanwhile, in an old underground bar.
"Shigaraki, the representative is here." Kurogiri's voice interrupted Shigaraki Tomura, who was watching the U.A. Sports Festival live on his laptop.
He closed it and turned around. A man wearing a large mask shaped like an ostrich's beak walked in, led by Kurogiri.
"So you're the second-in-command of the Shie Hassaikai…" Shigaraki said in a low voice.
"It's really annoying to cooperate with someone as rude as you. But at All For One's suggestion, let's try to get along for now. My name is Kai Chisaki." His tone was completely flat.
Honestly, the audience didn't expect the first round to get so brutal.
What really threw them off? Izuku Midoriyan, who looked pretty average in the last two matches, somehow pushed Shoto Todoroki back step by step.
But even then, Midoriya paid a huge price.
He kept channeling the power of One For All (which he still couldn't fully control) into his fingers and firing it off.
Basically like snapping off his own fingers and using them as bullets.
Every time he did it, another finger got wrecked.
All Might clenched his fists, just staring blankly at the kid who'd already sacrificed five fingers.
"Dude's extra as hell, but Todoroki's still gonna win."
A lot of people still thought that.
Yeah, Midoriya showed way more power than anyone expected.
But by now, half his fingers were done for.
And Todoroki didn't even look hurt.
"Even if he wins this round, there's no way he can fight in the next one. Why push himself this hard?"
Momo Yaoyorozu frowned, her eyes locked on Midoriya's purple almost black fingers, and muttered quietly.
"Just go all out, you idiot!"
Suddenly, Midoriya saw an opening. Todoroki's ice Quirk was starting to slow his own body down, so Midoriya charged forward, smashed his bruised fingers into a fist, and punched Todoroki right in the gut.
"Isn't that your own power too?!"
Midoriya yelled, his fist shaking.
"!!??"
Todoroki's face totally shifted. Under that whole "talk-no-jutsu" thing, the confusion and hatred in his eyes disappeared in an instant.
At the same time, bright flames roared to life on his left side.
"You're seriously encouraging your opponent? Are you an idiot?"
Todoroki shot back, his voice complicated.
"Shoto!!!"
From the stands, Endeavor's yell echoed through the whole arena. The flames on his body flared even bigger.
"You finally accepted your power, didn't you? That's right, perfect!!"
Endeavor was way too hyped, not caring that everyone was staring. He walked down the steps toward his son, shouting:
"This match is your new beginning!"
"Carry my bloodline, keep surpassing me, and achieve my ambition!!"
But Todoroki didn't react at all to his dad's passionate screaming. Instead, Present Mic responded over the broadcast, sounding kinda awkward:
"Uh, Endeavor seems really pumped up in the stands. Such a doting dad…"
The scarred half of Todoroki's face also lit up with flames. "I don't give a damn about any of that!"
Midoriya twisted his body, and One For All's energy covered half of him.
Cementoss, who was on rescue duty, saw what they were about to do and quickly activated his Quirk, throwing up multiple thick concrete walls between them.
Rumble!!!
The concrete walls melted under the pressure of the flames, then shattered like glass from the impact of One For All.
The insane wind pressure and chaotic air currents spread out from the ring, blowing Midnight (who was the main ref) away, along with a bunch of spectators in the stands.
"Zzz"
An ice wall shot up in front of Arthur right before the air currents exploded, blocking the wind pressure.
Arthur grabbed Momo Yaoyorozu by the shoulder and pulled her into his chest.
"Ice!?"
Momo was startled, then felt the violent wind rushing past on both sides.
A full ten seconds later, Arthur kicked the ice wall down.
Pet Shop had already landed on the steel beam above the Class A spectator area.
But nobody noticed except Momo.
Everyone was straining their eyes, trying to see through the white smoke to figure out who won.
"Izuku Midoriya! Out of bounds!"
Midnight looked at the bruised, battered figure lying outside the ring, her voice carrying a hint of regret.
"Shoto Todoroki advances to the second round!!"
The crowd erupted. Everyone was talking about the two fighters' abilities.
But it was almost one-sided, and a lot of people didn't approve of Midoriya wrecking himself like that.
Todoroki's ice and fire Quirk was seriously cracked.
Honestly, he might really have the potential to surpass All Might.
"That was so hype!"
Inasa clenched his fists, eyes shining with excitement.
According to the bracket, if he won his next two matches, he'd face Todoroki in the semifinals.
The unconscious Midoriya was quickly carried off on a stretcher by medical staff, heading to Recovery Girl's infirmary.
With Cementoss around, no matter how trashed the arena got, it was fixed in no time.
Todoroki held his lightly injured arm, ready to head back to the stands through the contestant passage, feeling a little amused.
But as soon as he stepped inside, Endeavor was already there, leaning against the wall, waiting for him.
"Good work."
Endeavor's mouth stretched into a wide grin.
"This is my own path."
Todoroki answered coldly with just those words.
After that first match, the crowd was fully fired up.
Next match:
Eijiro Kirishima vs. Denki Kaminari.
As Present Mic hyped things up again, the whole stadium cheering,
Arthur glanced at the schedule. The upcoming order was:
Kyoka Jiro vs. Mina Ashido.
Inasa Yoarashi vs. Hanta Sero.
Katsuki Bakugo vs. Itsuka Kendo.
Tenya Iida vs. Mei Hatsume.
Then my fight against Tokoyami?
"Second match! Start!"
Present Mic shouted.
For Denki Kaminari, who sucks at close combat, the most important thing was keeping Kirishima from getting too close.
He let loose 1.3 million volts of electricity the limit his brain could currently handle all at once.
But that was basically his only move against strong opponents.
Seeing that, Kirishima quickly hardened his whole body and crossed his arms to block.
One move to decide the winner.
If the attacker couldn't finish the fight in one shot, he'd turn into an idiot.
If the defender couldn't block that one shot, he'd lose.
Zzzzt
Blinding lightning flashed at the center of the arena for about five seconds.
Then it died down.
"Heh, hehe, hehehe"
A weird, stupid laugh was the first thing anyone heard.
"What an idiot, that guy…"
Kyoka Jiro had seen him like this before, and she couldn't help but feel secondhand embarrassment for Denki Kaminari.
...
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