The 2nd Sports Festival (Part 2)

Present Mic scanned the room with confusion. Almost every other class he had ever taught was always excited for the annual Sports Festival, regardless of if it was their first or third. However, this year's Class 2A didn't seem amused. They just blankly stared at their teacher. "...tough crowd today. Come on guys, why aren't you hyped up for this?" Shoto raised her hand. "I got first place last year." Denki raised his hand. "My agency had me working 14 hour days, so I'm too tired to care." Kirishima was next. "I was part of a high profile raid with several pro heroes." Chris looked up. "I almost died last week." Jason shrugged. "I already know I'm going to win this year." Chris turned his head. "Says who?" "Says me and my new technique." At last, the class slowly began to get excited as they bickered to each other about who was going to beat who and why.

Denki took a seat on the nearby bench, covered in sweat. He had been training non-stop for the last few weeks. Now there was only seven days until the Sports Festival. He looked at his hand. He used his quirk to create electricity in his hand. He had just used a lot of electricity for his quirk training, so only a few sparks came up. The blonde sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He could vividly remember last year's Sports Festival. Kirishima had easily taken him out in the first few minutes of the battle royale. It was humiliating. All his life, he had been told he had an amazing quirk. His quirk, Electrification, was considered an S-Tier Quirk; one of four in his class. The other S-Tier Quirks were just as amazing as his: Inner Strength, held by Jason, Half-Cold Half-Hot, held by Shoto, and Chris's Strength Multiplier. However, out of the four of the S-Tier students, he has done the least. He had been a coward at the USJ, relegating himself to hiding from the thugs running around the stadium. Then, in Cowell Park, he was more than happy at the time to sit in the classroom and hide, protected by Vlad King. However, Kirishima had tried to run into the forest to save his friends, only to be stopped by Aizawa.

A tear fell down Denki's cheek. The teachers and other students would never say it to his face, but he knew the truth: he had the lowest academic scores in his entire class. He could barely keep his grades at a 'C' average. He had managed to pass the Hero Probationary License Exam by the skin of his teeth and with a lot of help from his classmates. Denki buried his face into his hands and began to cry. The pressure was almost too much for him. Then, in his darkest hour, he felt very familiar arms wrap around him in a hug. He looked up. At some point, Mina had sat next to him. "...Mina…?" She released Denki from the hug and smiled. "Hi." Denki wiped away his tears. "Sorry. I-" "Don't apologize. I get it." Denki looked confused as Mina continued. "You feel like you don't belong here. Low grades, poor performance scores, and not seeing a way to improve." Denki was worried for Mina now. "Are you alright?" She shrugged. "I have the second lowest grade average in the class. On top of that, my quirk isn't that great. Amazing for destroying robots and passing classes, but I was nearly useless in the Cosa Nostra Raid because of how my quirk is limited." Denki looked her up and down. "How do you keep going?" Mina looked out at the nearly empty gym. "Because I remember my friends. I remember how hard they're trying. Each and every one of them wants to be an amazing hero. If I were to just give up, I would be failing them." She turned back to her friend. "So keep smiling and work as hard as you can." Denki looked back down at his hands. He smiled, a little happy to know that he wasn't the only one suffering. He would take Mina's words to heart: he would do his absolute best.

Chris put the weights back on the shelf, wiping the sweat away from his forehead. He wasn't using One for All to lift the weights. The purpose of this was to strengthen his body in order to handle larger percentages of One for All. Momo walked in, also wearing workout clothes. Chris smiled. "Hello." Momo smiled and kissed her boyfriend. "Working hard?" "Yep. Ready for our run?" "I am, but you should go rest." Chris smiled and shook his head. "I'll rest this weekend." She sighed. "You three are crazy." Chris tilted his head. "Three?" Momo smiled, wrapping her arms around Chris's neck. "Jason has been training non-stop with Kirishima, working on some new technique. Shoto has been working on strengthening her quirk as well. I truly don't think you three have been getting the proper amount of sleep." Chris shrugged. "No idea." Momo sighed. "I'm not going to try to get to the quarter finals this year." Chris was a little shocked. "What? Why?" "Well, last year, I got into the quarter finals and got my ass kicked immediately. I don't belong at the top with you guys." Chris sadly sighed and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. "...Please don't give up…" She giggled. "I'm not giving up. I just know my place." Chris pulled away from the hug, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "Please elaborate." She smiled up at him. "I'm not that great at combat, but I'm starting to learn that I can get people to follow me, and I'm relatively good at planning. I'm thinking I would do better in a leadership role." Chris thought for a bit. "...That would actually make sense." Momo nodded. "I'm currently talking with Jason. He wants to open up his own Hero Agency. I'm going to be his second in command." Chris was taken aback. "Most Hero Agencies only have one pro hero though." Momo shrugged. "Having more heroes will just make the work easier. Not to mention less overall paperwork." Chris thought for a minute before smiling. "Well, when you guys make the agency, you can count me in."

Jason powered down his quirk, smiling. He hadn't perfected his version of Full Cowling, but it was close. He was burning through his emotions slower than when he had started out. Kirishima deactivated his 'Unbreakable' form, also smiling. He had gone from holding the form for a minute to being able to hold it for five minutes. It's strength had also increased, due to Jason beating him up for three months straight. They high fived and looked to the far corner. Shoto was covered in sweat, having just finished rapid transitioning between her fire and ice. Through that style of training, she was getting better at holding both elements at the same time. She was up to three minutes now, meaning she could use Apocalyptic Shock for a full 60 seconds. Shoto took a deep breath before walking over to the guys. Jason kissed her. "Excited?" "Kind of." Kirishima sat on the ground. "I think I get it. Excited, but still nervous." Shoto nodded. Jason smiled. "It's alright. We'll all be happy as long as I get first place." Shoto started nodding in agreement, but stopped. "...wait, no, I'm going to win this year." "You won last year." "Yea. I'm going to win again." Kirishima chuckled as the couple playfully bickered.

Ms. Harper finished putting the last few dishes away. She was staring at the Sports Festival ticket on the counter. Due to Chris being a participant, she had received another ticket, just like last year. The mother sighed as she grabbed the ticket and put it in her purse. The second year students will be participating in the Sports Festival in two days, but she didn't want to accidentally lose the ticket. It was three months ago, but it truly felt like it was just yesterday when she saw Chris on the news defeating Overhaul. A single tear fell down her cheek, being unable to bear the thought of losing her only biological son. She already knew that Chris was dead-set on becoming a hero, and nothing she could say would change his mind. She laid down in bed, not looking forward to watching her son get hurt again.