Chapter 26 - Sports Festival - Winners [8]

In the middle of the stadium were 3 levels of concrete that represented the finalists of the U.A. Sports Festival in the freshman category. On the 3rd level was Katsuki, who seemed a lot more mellow and wasn't screaming as much as before, only glaring towards Hiroto and Todoroki at times.

On the 2nd level was Todoroki, who stood there absentmindedly as though he was absorbed in his own thoughts thinking about something.

On the 1st and the highest level in the middle of the two stood Hiroto who seemed to be the most relaxed out of anybody during the entire tournament, even when winning it.

Midnight entered the stage and cracked her whip as she addressed the crowd. "It is time to confer the medals!! And the one who'll present the medals this year is naturally none other than-"

From above the stadium, the familiar loud voice of All Might rang out as he jumped down and onto the stadium. "It is I!!"

"And I am here with medals!/Our Hero All Might!"

The two awkwardly looked towards each other, with Midnight silently apologizing for interrupting his entrance.

Then All Might went proceeded towards Katsuki, congratulating him on the win and what he should do to further increase his powers and fighting skills. In turn, all Katsuki did was grunt in response and looked away as he reluctantly took the medal.

All Might after then proceeded towards Todoroki, who seemed to be a lot more approachable compared to the time that he first arrived. After congratulating him and explaining what he should do to improve himself further, All Might moved on to 1st place.

Standing in the middle and the highest, Hiroto was lost in his own thoughts about how he should convince his mother to go out and have hotpot for dinner as a celebration. That was his goal in the end.

"Congratulations, Moriyama my boy! You were absolutely splendid during your matches, as well as your performance in every one of the events! It is quite difficult for me to advise you on how you should improve yourself, but I would say to try and work with your teammates better in the future and don't try to bear everything yourself." All Might said, placing the gold medal around Hiroto's neck.

From the stands, Hiroto's mother was practically crying in joy as she waved around the banner with Hiroto's face on it frantically, shouting to the other people close to her, "See?! I told you my son is the strongest!"

Hiroto blinked, snapping out of his daydream and then said, "Did you say something?"

All Might stayed silent for a moment, then just laughed it off, whispering to him afterward, "There really is nothing that I can advise you on when it comes to your strength, as I can already tell that you are even stronger than me, which is something that I am unashamed to admit, but proud of. I hope that you would use your power to keep the people close to you safe so that you can live a happy life surrounded by your loved ones." After saying that, All Might stepped away from Hiroto and laughed once more to ease the tension.

"Ok…" Hiroto responded to the sudden shift of tone in the conversation.

"And there you have it!! This year, it's these three that are our final 3 winners! However, take heed, folks! There was a possibility for everyone in this arena to stand there!! It's just as you saw with your very own eyes, ladies and gentlemen! They competed! And boosted each other up! Everyone climbing ever higher, advancing ever farther!! The next generation of Heroes will surely sprout from the seeds planted this day!! And to that sentiment, I'll add one more thing! Say it with me now!!" All Might shouted his long speech, getting the crowd's blood pumping as they all began to shout out.

"Great work!!!/Plus Ultra!!" With everyone else saying Plus Ultra, and All Might saying great work instead, ending the U.A. Sports Festival for the freshman.

With that, Hiroto proceeded home with his parents and was able to finally convince them of going to eat hotpot as a celebration for obtaining 1st place. However, by the time they got there, the store was destroyed by a Villain's rampage who took advantage of the fact that most of the Heroes would be watching the sports festival.

The Villain saw Hiroto's parents, and took out a gun, shooting it towards Hiroto's mother.

*clang*

"My my, aren't you a rude one?" Hiroto's mother said, as the bullet merely bounced off her hand that she raised in front of her face.

This time, however, Hiroto wasn't the one who intervened and stopped the Villain. His father instead charged forward and delivered a strong blow towards the Villain's stomach, causing him to blackout and fall over unconscious.

With tears in his eyes, he said, "My son deserved that hotpot! Now we won't be able to eat the delicious meat, broth, vegetables, sauces-"

"*sigh* There he goes again. I just cannot understand how you two could be so obsessed over hotpot.��� Hiroto's mother said, standing next to Hiroto as she cupped her cheek.

Hiroto's father went on and on to explain the greatness of hotpot, and how torn he was about not being able to eat hotpot, making Hiroto think to himself, 'I think he cares more about the food instead of my win today…'

After the events of the sports festival, the students were able to get 2 days off. During this time, Katsuki's mother came over and instead of chastising Hiroto for being so hardhanded with her son, she complimented him and said that he should do it more often to set her son straight since Katsuki has been a lot more mellow and less shouty compared to the past.

On the day before school would start again, Hiroto decided to head out and buy a limited edition poster for a manga that he had been following for a long time now. However, what he didn't expect was for everyone to instantly recognize who he was.

"It's him!"

"He's the kid who got 1st place in the U.A. Sports Tournament!"

"Whoa! You can't mistake that bald head anywhere!"

"Wow! I need to take a picture of him and let everyone know!"

"Me too!"

"Hey kid, mind taking a photo with us?"

The crowd of people began to swarm around Hiroto, blocking him from every angle as they tried to all get pictures together with him. Standing in the middle, Hiroto was starting to get annoyed and said, "Guys, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I have somewhere to be."

Just as someone was about to say something, the image of Hiroto's final punch surfaced in his mind, making him remember the dreadful feeling that he felt when watching him. Not just him, but everyone was also having the same thoughts, as they smiled and made a path for him.

'Well, that was easier than I thought. I guess people are actually more friendlier than I thought.' Hiroto said, nodding to the people around him in thanks as he left.

"Man, that kid sure is incredible."

"Yeah, just remembering that crazy pressure makes me have goosebumps still, and I wasn't even there!"

"He's definitely gonna go places. I can't wait to see him debut as a pro Hero."

"His head is really shinier is in person, isn't it?"

"Hey, do you think he polishes it? Or waxes it like a balling bowl?"

And so the crowd continued talking to each other for a while, with their conversation shifting towards the participants of the sports festival in general and how the other's fared. Unknowingly, the people had begun using Hiroto as a benchmark to compare the student's ability, by saying how long would he/she last against Hiroto, after seeing his performance against everybody else.

Heading home once more, Hiroto had a satisfied expression on his face, as he finally got what he wanted after so long. That was until a gust of wind blew the poster that was in his bag out into the air.

"Ah, my poster…" Hiroto muttered, reaching out to get it. But the poster then immediately combusted in front of him, turning into ash, causing Hiroto to pause in his footsteps with his hand still outstretched.

"Kukaka!" A man laughed as he ran around burning everything around him. On his arms were portable flamethrowers which fed off of his quirk's ability to generate gas. (pun intended?)

"Get back here!" Looming above the person, was Mt. Lady as she blocked off the person's path and stomped downwards with her giant foot.

However, just as she was about to squash the person underneath her, her feet came to a stop, as Hiroto appeared in front of the person with a hand above his head stopping Mt. Lady's movement.

"Hey, you ȧss. Did you realize what you just did? Unforgivable." Hiroto said, pushing Mt. Lady's foot away to the side as she stumbled and regained her footing.

"What the hell was that? Is someone trying to save him?!" Mt. Lady said as she quickly turned around, only to see Hiroto standing in front of the Villain.

"That head… Hey, isn't that the kid that got 1st place in the sports festival?" Mt. Lady muttered. Just as she went forward to warn Hiroto not to do anything reckless, she suddenly saw the get punched straight into the sky, wind the shockwave blowing Mt. Ladies hair back, causing her to take a step back as the man flew into the sky higher and higher.

"O-Oh crap! If I don't catch him, he'll hit the ground and die!" Mt. Lady said, watching the person's figure come spiraling down towards the ground as she stretched out a hand and tried to catch him, only to miss completely.

From beneath her, Hiroto grabbed the man's shirt just as he was about to hit the ground and said, "You're gonna give me back the money that you stole from me."

"B-But I didn't steal your money…" The man said, stuttering and fearing for his life as he started to sweat bullets.

"That's right… You stole something even more precious from me." Hiroto said, looking down.

The man started to feel even more fearful and quickly handed him his money, "H-Here! Take it! This is all that I stole from other people! I swear!"

"I don't need your stolen money! Repent!" Hiroto said, 'lightly' throwing the man onto the ground, causing the asphalt road to crack as he fell unconscious on the ground.

"H-Hey kid!" Mt. Lady said, crouching down in front of Hiroto, only to see his body disappear instantly, as Hiroto went home with a grumble.

"See, I knew I was right when I said trouble would always find you, why bother even going after it?" Hiroto muttered, stepping through his front door.

Meanwhile, Mt. Lady had a complicated look on her face, not knowing how to react to the situation whatsoever. "I should recruit him to be a sidekick...." Little did she know that practically almost every Pro Hero had the same intentions.