Occurrence

Chapter 30: Sports Festival START!

*Izuku's POV* 

There was only a day until the sports festival and my nerves were shot. The entire day at school I had been in my own little world, mumbling about strategies and generally annoying my class mates. Especially Kacchan. I could tell his anger was simmering under the surface and he was going to explode. Unfortunatly, the pupils in of my school just had to aggravate him even further. 

"I'm so nervous about tomorrow. It's going to be televised. I'll barely be able to sleep tonight!" Ochako sighed tiredly as she trudged towards the door of our class. It was the end of the school day and we all wanted to just go home and relax before the events which would transpire the next day, but fate had other ideas for us. "Whoa!" Ochako gasped in surprise as she opened the door, only to be faced with a hoard of teenagers staring directly at her. "Umm... hi?" She squeaked quietly as she stepped back slightly. "What are you all doing here?" Ochako tried to sound a bit more confident, but she was betrayed by the way her legs shook slightly and she swallowed hard before talking. "Don't be dense Round Face! They're here to scope out the competition!" Kacchan snarled as he grabbed her head and shook her slightly, as if he was trying to see if there was anything in her head. I rolled my eyes as I rescued Ochako from Kacchan's grasp and scolded him as if he were a child "Don't be mean, Kacchan. There were kinder ways to say that.". Kacchan tutted at me, as he usually did when he knew I was right but didn't want to admit it, and turned to face the onlooking crowd of first years. "I'm right though. These bastards are scoping us out because we're the kid's that survived a villain attack. There's no point though. Move it extras!" Kacchan snapped, threateningly lunging towards the closest kid who squeaked and backed away. "Bakugo! Please refrain from calling our fellow students extras! It's extremely rude!" Iida shouted as he flailed his arms around like a robot. "So this is what the hero course has to offer? I must say I'm quite disappointed, I was under the impression that you were decent people, guess I was wrong." a sleepy voice drawled from the back of the crowd. The students parted like the red sea for a purple-headed boy who looked like he could be my dad's son, they even had matching eyebags. "I'm sure you already know this, but the sports festival is the perfect time for people who didn't get into the hero course the first time to show what they're really made of. That means we can move into the hero course and you can get kicked out." the boy's mannerisms were lazy as his eyes surveyed all of us but finally stopped on Kacchan. "Consider this a declaration of war.", even from behind, I could feel Kacchan's glare burning into the guy in front of him, it caused a shiver of fear to run down my spine. "Tch, Kat, do us a favour and shut up. Your gonna get everybody to hate us." Kyoka yawned as she looked up from her desk. She'd been tired all day because she stayed up late writing a song, it wasn't out of the ordinary for her, but I did worry about her health. "Shut up, Kyoka. They need to know not to step to me, I'm aiming for the top and these bitches can't do shit about it." Kacchan snarled before he shoved his way through the crowd of onlookers and did his weird little crab walk down the corridor. Who walks like that? After Kacchan left, the other students threw us some snide comments before the crowd in front of our door thinned out and we were finally able to leave. What the purple-haired boy had said stuck in my head as I walked home with Kyoka and Kacchan (who had waited for us down the corridor. He had wanted to make a dramatic exit), if the people in the other courses did well enough, I could potentially be thrown out of the course. The very idea scared me to my core.

Nerves rattled my body as I sat stock still in my chair, trying my hardest to calm my racing heart. It was the day of the sports festival and the entire class was sat in nervous anticipation in the waiting room. I could faintly hear Iida shouting words of encouragement to us through my nerve induced haze. I could hear the faint murmuring of my classmates as they spoke nervously, trying to forget that we would be performing in front of millions of people. I couldn't forget though. My heart hammered at my ribs as the fact that the event was televised kept popping up in my head. If I messed up, everybody would see me and I would be the laughing stock of the entire country. "Keep it together, Izuku. Everything will be fine. Just go out there and do your best." I mumbled to myself. My mutterings were cut off by Todoroki addressing me. "Midoriya. You to Bakugo." I looked up at Todoroki in confusion, I wasn't sure why he had decided to suddenly say something now. He had barely said 2 sentences in the time we had started school. "Objectively speaking, I'm stronger and more capable than both of you. You both have good quirks but there's no doubt I would beat you in a fight." Todoroki looked down at me as he said this, it really made me feel inferior. Why was I attracted to this asshole again? It was a mystery to me. "Jumping the gun there a bit, wouldn't you say." I muttered under my breath. I didn't like the way he dismissed Kacchan and me so easily. Sure he was strong but the way he was acting was Kacchan levels of rude. "Oi! Half and half bastard! Don't act so aloof. Watch me beat your fucking ass today then let's see how high and mighty you are!" Kacchan cussed at Todoroki. Todoroki didn't bat an eye as he turned around and began to walk away. "I'll beat both of you, don't doubt it." again, I just didn't like the way he was speaking to Kacchan and me. He could have challenged Kacchan in a nicer way. And me of course. He could have been more polite to me as well. "Wait, Todoroki, I know objectively speaking you may be stronger than me and I don't know why you feel the need to tell me you'll beat me. But, I'm going to try my best and I expect you to do the same." my usual sunny demeanour was gone. I glared at Todoroki with a fire in my eyes, I wasn't going to roll over and let his remarks get to me. I had to get stronger so that I could protect my friends and family from Hisashi. I needed to be the best hero so that no one like Hisashi was able to walk again.

The deafening cheers of the crowd welcomed us as we walked out into the stadium. Papa's voice echoed around the stadium as he commentated. I felt my knees knock against each other as I walked, all of the eyes on me felt like millions of pinpricks poking my skin. "In the first year hero course, we have the rising stars who got through a villain attack with their steely willpower, it's class 1A!" our introduction was accompanied by cheers from the crowd. "The next class we have in the hero course is 1B. They haven't encountered any villains yet, but I'm sure we have no doubts that they will show us all what they're made of!" again, the crowd screamed happily at the appearance of another hero course class. Papa introduced every class in the same way, he hyped them up, trying to make us all equal. Unfortunately, the crowd didn't seem to be on board because their cheers were definitely quieter for all of the other first-year classes.

We all stood in front of a raised platform where Auntie Nemuri was stood. I wondered why she had been designated the role of the first year ref when she wasn't very... child friendly. "NOW! It's time for the athlete's oath!" Midnight's announcement was lost in a sea of murmurs from the students and surrounding stands. "Should she really be here?" "Why is an R-rated hero in a high school?" "Not gonna lie, I would totally tap that." were some of the comments thrown around. The last one seemed particularly sleazy. "Pipe down pipsqueaks!" Nemuri shouted, accompanying her voice with the slight snap of her flogger whip. Everybody immediately shut up. "Your student representative is Katsuki Bakugo from class 1A." quite a few people mumbled in disagreement upon hearing this, which was understandable given Kacchan didn't exactly make the best impression the previous day. "It must be because he placed first in the entrance exam." Sero murmured from beside me. "For the hero course maybe, there's no way he placed first in the academic exam." a bitter looking girl snarked in reply. I felt the need to defend Kacchan bubble up within me. "Actually he placed 3rd in the academic portion of the test. Also, I'm well aware that nobody in general studies came above him, the people who came 1st and 2nd are in my class." I snapped. The girl looked at me in surprise. I just tutted and looked up to the stage where Kacchan was about to take his oath.

"I just wanted to say... Make no mistake. I'm gonna take first place! You're all just pebbles in my path." Kacchan smirked as he spoke. The crowd of students was in an uproar at his statements. "You cocky bastard!" "The fuck!" "Please step on me!". Again, there were some thirsty people in the crowd. Some people needed some serious help. As Kacchan staggered off stage Auntie Nemuri stepped back up to the front of the stage and cracked her whip to gain everybody's attention. "Now, without any further delay, let the first event begin!" she cheered. The crowd cheered as a screen appeared behind her and began to scroll through events at rapid speed. "Everything's without delay at UA." I heard Ochako grumble under her breath, causing me to chuckle ever so slightly. "This is the qualifying round. This is what separates the doers from the dreamers! And the first event is... AN OBSTACLE COURSE RACE!".  

We've moved on to the sports festival arc! This arc is quite long. I don't have much to say so...yh. Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are and thank you for reading chapter 30 of Occurrence.