The green-eyed teenager was awakened by something alive. That something jumped on his chest and just laid there. He immediately opened his eyes and met the gaze of his frog, Guy. The amphibian and the man looked at each other without blinking until one of them broke the silence.
"Ribbit."
Harry picked Guy up and carried him back to the terrarium.
"How did you get out? The terrarium is completely closed."
The teenager carefully put the frog back on the egg and sighed heavily.
"I hope this will not happen again. If you want to take a walk, just say it."
"Ribbit!"
"...I'll pretend you just croaked and didn't answer me."
The frog looked at him with a smug look - how the fuck? - and another "Ribbit" sounded in the room.
"...okay than..."
---
"It's the UA's Sports Festival! The one time each year when our fledgling Heroes compete in a ruthless grand battle!" Present Mic's voice swept through the stadium, and the crowd cheered in response.
'...it's just gladiator fights with children...' Harry looked around with a conflicted expression 'Why haven't I noticed this before?'
"-first years of the Hero course!!"
Class 1-A students entered the stadium to the excited screams of the crowd. Harry thanked the higher powers for the warm weather stepped out into the sunshine.
"It's class 1-A!"
The teen ignored the rest of Present Mic's words and looked at the other students. He noticed the familiar silver hair in the crowd and waved to Hagane. The girl smiled a little and waved back.
"Hmmm~? Who are you waving to~?"
Harry flinched at Mina's unexpected appearance, but quickly pulled himself together.
"My friend from the Support Course."
The girl's face appeared with the same smile that Karin had when she heard about the existence of Gin. Harry immediately raised his hand, stopping her from talking.
"No. I know that face. Stop right now."
Mina tapped her chin with a finger in thought and nodded after a couple of seconds.
"Okay! But you can't escape after the festival~!"
There was a loud crack in the air, and Midnight drew everyone's attention. The heroine wore a very... open suit and a mask to hide only her eyes. Harry begin to drew imaginary lines between her and Momo. Both had black hair tied in a ponytail. Both had similar sexy bodies...
'Stop. I'm starting to think like that pervert.'
"Now for the athlete's oath!!"
"R-rated Hero Midnight? Should she really be in a high school?" the voice of a bird guy from Class 1-B was heard.
"I see no cause for concern." Mineta was staring again.
'Yep, I definitely need to stop thinking about that.'
"Pipe down! Your student representative is... From class 1-A, Potter Harry!"
"What? Why him?" Kaminari was confused.
"Must be because he placed first in the Entrance exam."
Harry walked up to the podium with a calm face and leaned slightly towards the microphone.
"The athlete's oath..." the teen looked at his schoolmates and smiled 'I need to pipe them up, don't I?'
"Give it one hundred percent, you fucks! Let's show Japan the best show in years!"
The teenager did not expect positive screams, but apparently people liked his little speech. He walked back down to his class and stood between Ojiro and Tsuyu.
"You shouldn't have cursed on TV, ribbit."
"Come on, where's the fun in that?"
"Isn't your family watching the festival right now?"
"Hmm? Why do you-" Harry stopped abruptly when he felt Azumi's judgmental gaze on him. A cold trickle of sweat ran down his forehead.
"...scatter my ashes in the sea, will you?"
"Wh-"
"Now, without any delay, let's get the first event started!" Midnight pointed her whip - just why do you need it now? - towards the holographic screen.
"These are the Qualifiers! It's in this stage that so many are sent home crying every year! And the fateful first event this year is..."
All movement on the screen stopped abruptly and everyone could see the words 'Obstacle course race'.
"This!" Midnight pointed to the screen with a smile, and Harry admitted that he liked her more than Present Mic.
"It's a race between every member of all eleven classes! The course is a four-kilometer lap around the stadium itself!"
The gate in front of the students began to open like a wall on the Diagon Ally to reveal an obstacle course.
"Our school preaches freedom in all things. Heh heh heh... So as long as you don't go off the course, anything is fair game!"
"Anything, huh...?" Harry muttered.
"Racers, to your positions..."
The green-eyed teenager was standing pretty close to the gates. Harry strengthened his body with Envy and completely covered his legs with shadows.
The first signal sounded.
"Another user of darkness? This will be interesting."
Harry turned towards the bird-headed guy and saw the shadows around him begin to move as well. He grinned.
"Let's see who controls them best."
"Fumikage Tokoyami." the teenager introduced himself and turned his full attention to the passage ahead.
"Potter Harry."
The second signal sounded.
Harry could sense the impatience of the crowd. He concentrated, but his face did not lose a smile. His goal is the first place.
"Start!"
With the cry of Midnight, each student began to move forward. Harry kicked off the ground and jumped over the rest of the participants. He landed in front of everyone and ran forward, reinforcing each step with a push of Pride.
A wave of cold swept right behind him and Harry frowned. He didn't even turn to look at the source, it was clear that Todoroki was using his Quirk. Ice formed under the teenager's feet and tried to freeze him at one place but he quickly broke it off.
"You'll need something more serious, Todoroki!"
---
In the Orphanage, absolutely everyone gathered in front of the TV in the living room and watched the festival with wide eyes. One of their friends is participating in the US Sports Festival! Of course they will watch it! Karin was sitting on Azumi's lap and holding a small plate with two frogs in her hands.
"Every obstacle course needs obstacles!! Starting with the first barrier. Robo Inferno!" Present Mic's voice was heard over the speakers and dozens of giant robots appeared on the screen.
"Wow! Harry said they were in the entrance exam!"
The students slowed down, but one figure didn't even think to stop. Shoto Todoroki ducked to the ground and the next second a pair of giant robots stopped completely covered in ice. He ran between two robots and they immediately fell, blocking the passage to the rest of the participants.
"1-A's Todoroki!! Busting through and sabotaging the others in one move! This guy is cold!"
"Does anyone see Harry?" Karin watched the screen intently, but could not see him anywhere.
"But what's that?!"
From under the wreckage of the robots, a body shot forward with incredible speed.
"Potter is using Todoroki's trap as a springboard! It looks almost unfair!"
Harry jumped over the bodies of the robots, completely covered in Pride. Shadow mouths pierced through their armor, devouring it moments before the collision and opening a path for him.
"The first event is the obstacle course race! It's a lap around the stadium, made just for today!"
"Hey."
Present Mic ignored Aizawa and continued speaking.
"According to the rules, everything is fair game as long as our contestants stay in bounds! And all the action is brought to you by the camera robots at each location!"
"You don't need me here, do you?"
The camera showed several more students trying to fight their way through the crowd of robots. From under the debris, two people made their way out, Kirishima from Class 1-A and Tetsutetsu from Class 1-B.
"Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were crushed! Ouch!! I wouldn't want to be in their place!"
"...a robot fell on Harry too, right?" asked one of the older children.
"Yes! He just went right through!" Karin answered happily, swinging her legs.
Bakugo ran to the robots and used the explosions to climb up. Sero and Tokoyami immediately followed along his path.
"Down low didn't work for 1-A's Bakugo, so he too took the high road like Potter! Clever!"
The camera zoomed in again to the other members, a little further away from the leading positions. Gin Hagane moved between robots on a flying piece of armor with incredible agility. The metal objects stopped around the girl and continued their movement only after she left their close radius.
"The current leaders of the pack are overwhelmingly from class 1-A!"
"Class 1-A knows there's no time to hesitate. They've been exposed to the outside world, up close and personal. They've had that fear planted in them. And they've endured it. Overcome it."
This time Present Mic did not interrupt Aizawa's speech. Students destroyed robots and quickly passed the first obstacle. Everyone gave their best with the hope of winning the race.
"Each has grown from that experience and forgotten how to hesitate."
The first students started to reach the second hurdle and the camera showed a huge canyon. There was a huge pit were many islands connected only by tight ropes.
"So the first barrier is a piece of cake?! How about the second one?! Fall and you're out! You've gotta crawl across if you wanna make it! This is The Fall!!"
Tsuyu Asui did not waste time and began to quickly climb the rope, several students started to move too. But one girl from the support course stood out. She used a grappling hook to move between the islands and were laughing the whole time.
"The truth is, we've got all types trying to make it big today, Eraser Head."
"Why'd those idiots stopped moving..."
"Meanwhile, the leaders of the pack move on undaunted!!"
Shoto and Harry used similar tactics. The first used ice to increase the area of the rope, and the second used shadows. Harry stopped covering his entire body and focused only on his legs. Bakugo still used short explosions to fly over the holes. Ida simply activated his Quirk and slid forward along the rope.
"Harry and this Todoroki are leading, huh? Is he the son of Number Two Hero, or is he just has the same last name?"
"The guy uses ice, and Todoroki's children are known for their fiery and icy quirks, so anything is possible."
"The leads keep breaking ahead, while the rest of the pack is bunched up! Our racers don't know how many will move on, so all they can do is aim for the first place!"
The camera zoomed in to the race leaders again, with a long and level field in front of them, and immediately after that there was the finish line.
"And our leader has reached the final barrier! That is to say... This minefield!! This deadly Afghan carpet! A quick glance is enough to revel the mines' locations! So keep your both eyes open and watch your step!"
Kars snorted and crossed his arms.
"I hope our Hero will show us the power of the explosion. I'm even curious."
"Shh!" someone poked him in the side and the teenager grumbled.
"I should mention... Our mines don't pack a deadly punch, but they're loud and flashy enough that you might need a change of underwear when it's all over!"
"Depending on the individual, of course." added Aizawa.
"They shoved a minefield at the end to slow down the leaders. Well, that's understandable, the Sports Festival is still a big show."
Todoroki stopped using his Quirk and just walked carefully through the minefield. A couple of meters in front of Harry his shadow eyes tracked mines in his path and the teenager moved forward with a quick step. Explosions rang out in the minefield and Bakugo began flying over it.
On camera, it was visible that he was shouting something to Todoroki, but the participants didn't have microphones, so his words were lost. Three students were running shoulder to shoulder.
"We have a new leader! Get exited mass media! You guys love this sort of turnaround! But the rest are catching up! But with these three grappling for first, can they hold on to their lead?!"
Suddenly, from the beginning of the field, a huge explosion thundered and the Present Mic perked up.
"A giant explosion from behind?! What caused such a blast?! An accident? Or was it intentional?!"
The camera zoomed in to a green-haired teenager flying through the air on a broken piece of robot armor.
"And class A's Midoriya rides the wave in hot pursuit!"
Izuku flew over the leaders of the race, but suddenly fell down. The shadows pulled a piece of metal to the ground and shattered it to pieces.
"A double twist! Potter is stopping Midoriya's rapid advance!"
Harry shouted something and the camera showed his lips, which were easy to read:
"Sorry broccoli, but the first place is mine!"
He smiled madly and, completely enveloping his body in a shadow, jumped to the finish line leaving only a small crater in place of the jump.
"Wow! Your class is something else, Eraser Head! What're you teaching those kids?!"
"This isn't my doing, they've been spurring each other on all on their own."
"Well, we've seen this coming!"
"You ignoring me?"
"The one who made it back to the stadium first is... None other than Harry Potter!"
The camera switched to the smiling face of Harry, who was standing at the finish line. Karin jumped up from Azumi's lap and with a smile lifted the plate with frogs into the air. All the children of the Orphanage shouted Harry's name in celebration.