88: Sports Festival (2)

Chapter 88: Sports Festival (2)

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[“It's the UA Sports Festival!! The one time each year when our fledgling heroes compete in a ruthless grand battle!!”]

Present Mic’s voice rang out around the entire stadium, and even the entire country via the Live Cameras recording the scene of UA High.

[“First up, let us greet the miraculous rising stars who brushed off a villain attack with their steely willpower!!”]

Footsteps replaced his voice, and from a tunnel, students started to appear.

[“Welcome, the first years of the Hero Course!!”]

The students of both Class 1-A and Class 1-B walked out of different tunnels, but the crowd's attention was on 1-A.

“Oh, ooh!! It’s Class 1-A!!”

At this reaction, Kaminari whistled beside me, “Whoa, what a crowd.”

“We are expected to put on the best performance in front of such a crowd…?” Ida started, looking around. “I suppose this is merely one more necessary skill if we hope to become heroes.”

Kirishima decided to nudge closer to me. “Hah… They’re really giving us too much attention, while you did all the work. Man, talk about stealing credit.”

I gave him a hearty chuckle. “Don’t mind it. That just means you need to prove your actual worth to them. Show them, the next time something like that happens, I won’t be fighting alone.”

Kirishima grinned. “Right!”

Then, the class C, D, and E of the general studies, and F, G, and H of the support and business course also walked in on Present Mic’s announcements.

Soon, we gathered together, in front of the alluring teacher, Midnight, who acted as if I didn’t exist there.

Yes, that’s how a proper teacher should be.

“Omg, this time’s first year’s referee is the R-rated Hero… Oooh, I am feeling something in my pants!!”

From Class 1-B, a short kid with purple balls in place of his hair muttered while clutching his pants.

Wait, is that Mineta? Kek.

Midnight coughed her throat, bringing us back to the present, and then brushed her gaze past all the students with a smile on her face. 

She was about to say something, but Tokoyami frowned.

“R-rated Hero? Should she really be in a high schoo-”

Midnight’s whip hit the platform she was standing on. “Shut it!”

She smiled again, acting as if she was an angel, and said, “It’s time for the athlete’s oath! Your student representative this time is,” She looked at me, and licked her lips. “Neji Hado~!”

Not very teacher like.

—★—

“Must be because he came first in the Entrance Exam.”

“Meh, the Hero Course entrance exam you mean… Sigh.”

The students didn’t have a good impression of the boy at first, but as he walked up the stage, smiling softly, their jaws dropped.

Shining cosmic blue eyes reflected their faces, and they stared at it with wide bewitched eyes.

“Ah… he doesn’t seem like a bad kid.”

A girl gulped in.

“T-true, we shouldn’t hate on him just because of his entire class.”

The girls’ faces reddened a bit, and Neji’s smile widened. He grabbed the mic from Midnight’s hands, giving no glance at her, which made the woman bite her lips and proceeded to talk.

“A pleasure to be at the top.” He said. 

“Entrance exam was a Quirk-based test, where I got lucky because of something I never got the chance to decide - A powerful quirk.” He watched the surprised reaction of others. “I can see why some of you are annoyed, but from the previous Sports Festivals, it’s clear UA doesn’t only value power quirks in this Festival. Give your all, and I believe you’d be able to catch the eyes of great heroes.”

That was… surprisingly positive coming from a guy with a solid quirk. The girls were reluctant to hate him before, but now their eyes were heart-shaped. The boys on the other hand just clicked their tongues.

Seeing the boys’ reactions, Neji continued.

“How about this then…” Neji grinned, and not a humble one. “Since some of you still seem sceptical, I will give all of you a heads up on the first game. Only when I see someone is about to finish the game, will I start. Call me arrogant, but I am just trying to prove not every lucky person deserves hate. I am just being humble.”

All of a sudden, the girls hated him. The hearts in their eyes vanished, and their tongues clicked.

Neji’s smile widened. Just as he wanted.

“Overconfident jerk…” Some kids grind their teeth. “I will show you what overconfidence brings to you.”

—★—

The games wouldn’t be fun if he played them like a normal civilised person. He was in UA for the dungeons and to keep up with the plot, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to have some fun.

“Cheeky bastard, don’t come running to me when the kids gang up on you!” Momo looked at him disapprovingly. “Really, I see no reason why you would need to provoke them!”

Neji shrugged, standing within the crowd of students at the gate of the ‘Obstacle Course Race’.

“I am just bored.” Besides that, he also got an interesting Quest.

“Kekek!!” Then a voice called from behind him. A reptilian faced kid glared and grinned at Neji. “Our school preaches freedom in all things, so as long as you don’t go off the course, anything is a ‘fair’ game. Kekek.”

Neji was curious why the kid was laughing like that, but right then Midnight pulled the trigger of the revolver, and a bullet flew up towards the sky.

With a bang, everyone started running.

"..."

Everyone ran, but Momo clutched Neji's hand.

Neji sighed and pressed her hand too. "Don't act like a little girl. Run."

With a shake of her head, Momo released her grip and ran.

Some kids that were behind Neji tried to push him forward, but Neji's body didn't bulge and the kids fell on their faces instead.

Some tried to use their quirks on him even, but they were pushed outside the course with an invisible force.

In seconds, Neji was alone, with everyone running wild ahead.

"My~ aren't you a cheeky one. You really plan to start at the end, boy?"

Midnight walked from behind him, her hips shaking on each step. The obstacle course was round-shaped, just a lap around the stadium. Its finish line was at this same place, even the same gate. Meaning, Midnight didn’t have to work for the next 10 minutes or so.

Neji didn't mind company.

"Of course. I am a man of my words… most of the time."

—★—

Bakugo's hands blasted behind him, and he caught up to Todoroki's pace.

"You Half-n-Half bastard, look how I go past you!”

Todoroki ignored him and instead focused on freezing the robots ahead.

The Obstacle Course was the same as Canon. A road filled with obstacles and robots. Giant robots. It wasn't that hard for Todoroki, but there were people who were having a much easier time.

Inasa flew in the air many meters ahead. He was giving his all too, and that justified his speed.

Todoroki didn't get the chance to observe the kid more just as the broccoli head, Izuku Midoriya slipped in between him and Bakugo.

"Hey, Kacchan!"

Bakugo growled. "How are you so fast?!"

Izuki smiled. "Just repelling my feet against the ground."

He kicked the ground and leapt meters ahead. But Bakugo and Todoroki caught up before he could jump again.

"Tch, looks like I won't be able to catch up to that guy."

Bakugo growled at this and pursued further, and so did Todoroki.

Shoto Todoroki was disappointed with Neji. He was expecting a challenging match, but the latter had just given up.

What was he expecting by starting so late? No matter how fast, unless you are Hawks, you won't be able to finish a 1 kilometres run before others who started minutes ago.

Todoroki froze another robot and skated forward. 

Well, that’s a bummer.

—★—

Momo was having a hard time for the first few minutes.

Along with the fact that she had clung to Neji before the match, the kids also knew Momo was closely related to Neji because of that day in the cafeteria.

Now, kids were ganging up on her.

Especially girls. They were venting on her both because of Neji’s words, and the fact that she was most likely Neji’s girlfriend. They were jealous and angry.

This was the best chance to release their jealousy.

So, they ganged up on her and tried to push her off the course.

Luckily some boys, calling her 'Queen', started to shove the girls away.

That stung. Random boys were more helpful than her boyfriend, who was instead the reason for all this. 

…She sighed under her breath and made her way forward. Because of this problem, she was many times slower than she should be at her peak. She was at least behind 20 people. And the game was about to end.

["Ohh, would you look at this?! Class 1-A's Inasa is just about to finish the game! Let's count, 1, 2, 3…"]

Momo sighed and accepted her defeat.

Then she felt a pull on her body.

—★—

["Ohh, would you…"]

"I guess it's time to go, Sensei."

Neji shoved Midnight behind a bit.

"Now?” Midnight watched his hand pushing her softly by the shoulders. “When someone is already about to win? Heh, good luck, boy."

She waved off and started walking towards the platform, preparing to greet Inasa.

Neji shook his head, grinning. He then faced his palm behind. Golden light started to shine on his palm, and smokey rings started to plummet from them.

With a breath in, Neji released his shockwave at full power.

His face blasted against the wind and his hair went upwards. He turned on his Eyes of the Lord, he couldn't see without that in the Speed of Sound. 

Next, he used his Telekinesis to pull Momo from the ground, and in an instant, she rested on his chest. His arms were busy blasting so his telekinesis held Momo.

["...Six, seven, eight…"]

A blanket of telekinesis kept Momo's body safe, just as he pushed further. Neji left a red trail of fire behind him, as he passed Bakugo and Inasa in the air, who stared at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws.

The exact second later, he blasted through a tunnel, going beyond the Finish line, where Midnight was just walking on the stairs of the platform.

His feet touched the ground, and he slid forward, leaving a mark on the ground. Slowly, he put Momo down, whose body was shaking. 

A long 10 seconds later Inasa popped up behind him. 

All the spectators, Midnight, and Present Mic were dead silent.

Next, from the mic, Aizawa's dry voice flew in.

["...The winner of the first match is both Neji Hado and Momo Yaoyorozu. They finished the game in 8:24 minutes after the start… But for anyone curious about how much time the silver-head took in reality, that would be 6.7 seconds. So we'll be counting him as 1st, and the girl as 2nd."]

Not long after the announcement was made, a huge cheer deafened the stadium, to the point that even other stadiums could hear the cheers towards the silver haired boy.

….

At the 3rd year stadium, Mirio huffed while clutching on his knees as he stared at the laughing Nejire.

"When… huff…did you get so fast?"

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