Chapter 39: I'm Here

Recap:

"Place in the upcoming Sports Festival…no rather we've got to win that."

"We?"

"If the past years are to go off then it's possible for the finals to be some team tournament. Like two years ago, when it was a group of three defending the crown final."

"The year that "Big Three" of the U.A won, right?"

"Yeah!"

"And did you think of how we were gonna beat up those monsters?"

Suijin knew who he was talking about, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, Bakugo, Midoriya. The people he designated as the 4 kings of the class in terms of abilities currently. Though Shoji's the fifth, Suijin muttered inwardly.

Unbeknownst to Shoji, Suijin looked up with a face that said 'Isn't it obvious'.

"We go PLUS ULTRA!"

---

Thus, a short but meaningful partnership between two UA students was ensured, one that would become one of Shoji's most memorable moments in his life.

____________________________________________________________________________

So the stressful times went on; seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours, then days, and finally weeks.

The entirety of UA's freshman class trained relentlessly, each hopeful of proving themselves at the upcoming sports festival.

Until the day finally came, most, like Suijin, couldn't calm their emotions down from the previous night, causing them to lose sleep.

*Sigh*

'Hope I don't perform worse because of this.' Suijin rubbed his nonexistent forehead, hoping the heat from his hands would wake him up.

"Mister Shimizu, you're really rich, huh?"

'Huh, so she told Them.'

The trio he had previously met in an unassuming alleyway on the way to UA was currently snacking on his money.

Figuratively, of course, but what he bought hadn't been cheap!

A battery powered fan coming in Red, Purple, and Blue. Some water for the upcoming summer, some Food?

Suijin didn't know what to get them—something easy to make but simple to store. Didn't require extensive materials and was nutritious enough to fill them up.

While browsing the store today, he decided on the ultimate food even he could feast on:

'As long as my Stomach is working properly'

[INSTANT RAMEN!!!]

You only need hot water and the package to make a fulfilling meal for the day! Plus, if you don't even have water, you could smash up the ramen sprinkle in the package and eat it dry.

At least that's the part Suijin heard from Shoji.

To say their faces were confused when he brought out the packaging was, to say the least, To his horror, they didn't even know what Ramen WAS before him!

So after he quickly explained the principles of the meal to the lost souls, they decided how they wanted to eat it.

The oldest and youngest both wanted it the way Suijin himself recommended. The boy also planned on just watching, but deciding he needed a nutritious meal before his big day, he threw in a pack for him.

Perhaps feeling bad for using the Water and package, he brought out his portable hotplate. Unluckily, the eldest, realizing how useful this was, asked if he could lend it to them, using her youngest sister as backup.

'They got me!'

So he ended up loaning his hotplate to them, vowing to buy their own so he could get his decade old partner back with him. Suijin completely ignored all thoughts of this being her plan from the start, not wanting to consider that possibility.

The next dilemma was that the hotplate couldn't be used on plates as it could melt, and Suijin really didn't want to have to bring out his favorite bowl lest they ask for it.

The problem was quirky covered as one of them brought out a hotplate emptied of its contents and ready for heating up.

As the three cooked up some marvelous food, the middle child was simply starving, so her barley listening brain recalled his easier method, which in her mind meant a faster method.

She grabbed a package, threw it onto the ground, and stomped on it, following a sped up version of the boy's instructions. She crushed it up and ate the food, not understanding the same feeling he described to them.

'Did he lie-'

Her words were cut off by the amazing aroma of Food wafting into her nose from the other group; she abruptly barged into the huddle that had formed around the port and stared at the food.

"Do you want some?"

'Please say no." Suijin begged.

*Ferviously Nodding*

The food was split four ways, and everyone enjoyed their meal in the early morning.

Suijin stood up after finishing relishing in the warmth of his stomach and said, 'Oh well, got to go soon, so time for presents.'

Like Santa Claus, he pulled out things from his bag, ignoring the receipt that fell out, and handed them the gifts he got.

A story on plants, fruits, and wildlife made into a comic book was given to the youngest, as Suijin remembered her trying to sound out his name when they first met.

'Why the middle didn't just read my bag to get my name or why the oldest asked, I'll never know. Still, her passion for reading could be real, and I'll never deny a fellow scholar.'

He got a martial arts book that told the story of a young fighter facing adversaries but overcoming the odds in the middle, The book was unique in that it had pages in between chapters dedicated to explaining the technique the characters used.

'It's best to get the one who seems to hate school the most into reading, plus knowing how to defend yourself in this society is never useless.'

For the oldest, he got her a journal with a key as a lock.

'She seemed like the type to have many thoughts she couldn't share, so jotting them down should help her memory.'

Then, even though the meager allowance money he saved up and brought out was begging for rest, he slained his already defeated cash storage device one last time,

[Today on the Hero Centric News–]

A radio.

Something to pass the time for them, they could also sink it with the program from across the street onto the TV.

Thus, a weird voice-to-video separate TV situation could be going on over here.

"You're going to be participating."

The youngest pointed to the radio she'd been fiddling with for a minute [UA first years once again prepare to compete in the sports festival–]

Then her hand gravitated to his uniform's logo, the UA Icon resting as the main piece.

"Yeah."

He gave a short but thoughtful answer.

"~Do your best."

"Have fun."

"Give us a good performance, #1."

Shoving down his embarrassment, Suijin said, "Thank you, Mera, Ale, and Siphone."

The girls were taken aback by that. They were not used to anyone bothering to distinguish them from each other; for awhile, they were just referred to as the sisters.

"But how'd he know our name?"

Ale looked at her bag, where one of her papers was titled 'My Sisters; Mera and Siphone plus Me, Together were ASM.'

"Sis, I hope he does well."

Her youngest sister and shyest sister worried about others, which was rare.

"~Me too."

As was her middle sister not being angry with the world.

"I as well."

She said in response.

…..

Suijin, dressed in the Blue UA jumpsuit they wore for training, was sitting in the classroom waiting room, listening to his peers speak their desires, which riled something inside him.

"Hoho, is this a declaration of war?"

"You can consider it that way."

Sorry, Todoroki, your right, you may be better than me in most practical aspects…b-But I'm here too. I already qualified for UA and have a spot in this race, So I'm Going To Give It My All As We'll."

Silence rang as everyone registered the words of Midorya, whom most thought was an unassuming guy who stood at the middle to lower top half of the food chain to announce his competence in the top spot of the festival.

Most ignored it, but some took it too seriously. Kirishima's resolve to have some Manly battle with them was rising, Yaoyorozu reminded herself not to underestimate anyone, Mineta even had a small increase in his desire to prove himself more than the girl loving man he was.

'I'm going to as well, right?' Suijin was no different from them; he had even more on the line than most of his classmates.

He thought back to his interaction this morning, to his promise to Shoji, to Mina.

"I'LL BE NUMBER 1." Suijin said the words he thought out loud.

"WHA–YOU BASTARDS---YOU THINK I'M NOT WORTH IT OR SOMETHING!"

A hot glare landed on the three boys who'd just spoken out,

*BEEP*

A signal telling them it was their time to walk out of the dark tunnels and into the stadium, which seated thousands and was broadcasted to thousands more.

The hot glare lessened but promised pain should he meet them during any of the activities.

Todoroki ignored it, thinking his abilities would show who's best. Midoriya was worrying about his best friend and how he'd deal with that troublesome quirk of his, while Suijin couldn't care less about anything else.

'I Did It!'

He announced himself! Most wouldn't understand the significance of what that meant to the awkward boy.

Most of his thoughts were behind bars in his mind, and only in environments where he was around those he cared about would he speak about himself.

He's experienced too much to not understand how malicious others could be, but just now he did.

He said what he'd do, and besides the intense reaction of his hot headed classmate, nothing happened.

A part of him wanted to boast about how this should be expected and flooded a part of his mind with shame at his overreaction, but a deeper part recognized how big of a step this was,

'One of many upon my path to ultimately win this festival!' Suijin cast his gaze up, forcing his eyes to look down, an instinctive reaction.

And to look up, he lowered his shoulders, steadied his breathing, and only slightly squinted his eyes at the harsh glare the sun provided upon coming out of the tunnel.

Parents whispered their children's names upon watching them on TV, but Suijins and Shojis?

The two had front-row seats and were only looking to see their boys exit from the stage.

The Shimizus recognized the change in his son's posture, 'Suijin.' They both said it with varying degrees of worry, concern, and pride.

"THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL, WHERE THE HERO WORLD'S INCHOATE LITTLE EGG'S AIM FOR EACH OTHERS THROATS–AND THE TOP! OUT GRAND YEARLY MELEE!!!"

The crowd busted in excitement, "AND LET ME GUESS, ALL YOU MISCREANTS CAME TO SEE THEM, RIGHT?? THE FRESHLY-FORMED MIRACLE STARS THAT SHRUGGED OFF A MASS VILLAIN ASSUALT WITH WILLS OF STEEL!!!!

"THE DEPARTMENT OF HEROICS–"

The cameras were centered on their faces.

"FRESHMAN CLASS–"

Their eyes adjusted to see the large crowd and the extravagant stadium in which they would be competing under the watchful eyes of the world.

"YOU'RE HERE FOR CLASS 1A, RIGHT!!?"

'I'm here.'