"At last, we've arrived! The best of the best among UA's first-years will be decided! It's the final match, Todoroki versus Potter!!!"
Present Mic yelled, using his Quirk to its fullest. The crowd erupted with excited shouts, and the people behind the monitors cheered.
Todoroki stood with a completely calm face, and Harry smiled like a Cheshire cat.
"I'm glad you decided to give one hundred percent. You have no chance of beating me with your ice alone." the green-eyed teenager cracked his neck and the next moment the smile disappeared from his face "So get ready, Todoroki, I'm going to break your back."
"Now, start!"
As soon as Shoto heard this command, he sent a wave of ice towards Potter, the size of which could be compared with the one he used in the match against Sero. Harry disappeared inside the iceberg, but Todoroki continued to watch it closely.
"The gauntlet's been thrown down! Looks like Todoroki wants to avoid close combat with Potter after his show of strength! Do we already have our winner so soon?!"
The ground behind Todoroki opened and Harry jumped out of the pit, kicking his opponent in the back and sending him to the edge of the arena. Shoto stopped his movement with a wall of ice, Potter looked at the lying teenager with a frown.
"You got it. You fought with everything you have. So why the fuck are you shivering from cold right now?"
The shadows around Potter began to move and swiftly headed towards Todoroki. He raised his right hand and sent a chunk of ice in response, which was completely consumed by Harry's shadows.
"He let Todoroki attack first and then hid underground again to stealthily attack him. His strategy hasn't changed much, but it still works. Todoroki moves well too, but... His attacks are lacking. He's lost his drive ever since his fight with Midoriya." said Aizawa, not even letting Present Mic even open his mouth.
The shadows returned to Harry and the two teenagers just stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Potter sighed heavily and shook his head.
"Have you lost your drive? Just like Aizawa-sensei said? Hell, now I don't even want to break your back. I'll finish this quickly."
Harry raised his right hand and a wound opened in his palm, from which a shadow escaped rapidly and approached Todoroki's face.
"Whip of Pride." the green-eyed teenager said in a dead voice.
"Don't lose, come on!" shouted from the stands Midoriya and Potter could swear he could get Shoto to react.
The right side of the teenager caught fire and the Pride staggered, but after a second the fire went out and a shadow whip crashed into Todoroki's temple with a terrible crash, sending him out of bounds.
"..." Harry looked at Todoroki frowning 'Old habits die hard. I will bring him into shape at the same time as Midoriya... His foundation has already been laid.'
"Potter used a special attack from inside his own body and added incredible speed to his already fast shadows! But Todoroki doesn't seem to have fired off that heat blast he showed us when fighting Midoriya. In the end he... He snuffed out his flames."
Midnight went to Shoto's unconscious body and checked its condition.
"Todoroki is out of bounds! So... Potter is the winner!"
Harry walked over to Todoroki and placed him on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Midnight just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll take the idiot to Recovery Girl myself."
Present Mic got up from his seat and scanned the crowd.
"And that concludes our contest! The first-year winner of UA's Sports Festival is... HARRY POTTER OF CLASS A!"
---
"Now let's move on to the awards ceremony!" Midnight spread her arms wide and elegantly walked across the stage in front of the three prize-winners.
"What...?" Jiro stared at third place with an unreadable expression on her face.
"He's been going wild since the second he woke up..." Kirishima said and a drop of cold sweat dripped down his brow.
In third place, completely covered in chains and with a muzzle on his face, sat Katsuki Bakugo on a concrete chair. His hands were handcuffed, which blocked his Quirk. The explosive teenager snapped towards Potter and tried to speak through the muzzle, but the words came out only with muffled screams.
"No holding back, mr. Third Place!" Sero shouted towards Bakugo.
Harry, who was the source of Katsuki's rage, only raised an eyebrow towards his explosive classmate.
"In third place, we have both Bakugo and Ida, but... Ida was forced to leave early due to family emergency. We hope you all understand."
Midnight winked at the camera and Harry thought that even if someone didn't understand, they didn't care about it right now.
'Ida must have had something serious going on if he left earlier... I hope our robot is okay.'
"Now for the medals! Presenting them this year... You know who!!!" Midnight whipped towards the stands and the next moment All Might form appeared from there.
"I am..." he made it to the podium in one jump and several somersaults.
"Here with the medals-!"
"He's everyone's hero, All Might!" Midnight scratched the back of her head in embarrassment "Cut you off, sorry..."
The hero nodded with his eternal smile and walked over to the third seat, where Bakugo was sitting with limited movements.
"Bakugo, kid! Well, um, that is..."
It was evident that All Might was uncomfortable with seeing his student in chains. He removed the muzzle from Katsuki's face and continued his speech.
"Unfortunately, you couldn't get to the first place, but don't let that hold you down! You will still have a chance to show your strength to the whole world!"
Bakugo's eyes lit up with hellfire.
"All Might... This third place... It doesn't mean shit! Doesn't matter what anyone says. If I don't recognise it, than that medal's just garbage!" he growled angrily.
'What a face...'
"In a world that's constantly graded on a curve, there aren't many who can continuously be on top! So accept this! As a wound even! So you don't forget!" All Might raised the medal to Bakugo's head - who tried to held his head back with all his might - and tried to put it on the teenager.
"I told you, I don't need this junk!" he screamed, but in the end the Hero put the ribbon of the medal in his mouth. Bakugo bit the ribbon and the bronze medal hung down in front of his chest.
All Might took the silver medal from Midnight and walked over to Todoroki, the teenager bent down a bit and let the teacher hang the medal around his neck.
"Todoroki, kid. Congratulations. You held back. You didn't use your left side in your final match. Is there a reason for that?"
Shoto still looked a little lost, but answered the question anyway.
"It was my match against Midoriya. I think I've lost my way. I know you've taken an interest in him. And I'm starting to see why." he raised his head and looked directly into the eyes of the Hero "I've always wanted to become a hero like you. But... It's not like I can just forget and get over things. That's not enough. There's still something I have to settle first."
The Symbol Of Peace was touched by the speech of the teenager and he hugged Todoroki.
"That's a new look I'm seeing on your face. Say no more. Whatever you must settle, I'm sure you can do it."
All Might took the gold medal and walked to the first place, looking at Harry with a smile.
"Finally, Potter! Congratulations on reaching first place. But remember, you always have room for improvement."
The teenager answered him with the same smile and bent down, allowing the Hero to put the medal around his neck.
"Thanks, All Might. I know I still have a lot of room to grow, the fight with Bakugo could have ended faster."
Katsuki shouted something from his seat again, but the ribbon in his teeth drowned out his words. All Might hugged Potter and patted him on the back. The smile froze on a teenager's face
"That's the spirit!"
Harry's shadow twitched, but after a moment returned to its original position. The face of the owner of the three Philosopher's Stones did not show the war that was happening in his mind.
'Why the fuck do you need to hug me?!'
"Well, these are your winners! But hold on, everyone!" All Might said, turning to the croud "Everyone here today has the potential to be standing up here! As you all witnessed! Competition! Encouragement! Pushing each other to climb higher and higher! The sprouts of today will grow into the Heroes of tomorrow! In that spirit, lets give one final cheer!"
All Might raised his hand to the sky and began to speak even louder.
"Everyone, say it with me! One... Two... And..."
"Plus-"
"THANKS FOR THE HARD WORK!"
"We're supposed to say 'Plus Ultra', All Might!"
"Oh, right... It's just they really did work so hard and..."
Harry shook his head and waved to the excited crowd. He noticed that all the cameras were aimed at the three of them and then something clicked in his head.
'Oh... People will start recognizing me on the streets... Fuck... Thank the Higher Powers for Envy.'
---
After Aizawa announced that the next day would be a day off, Harry walked into a deserted alley near the school, quickly changed - he always had a change of clothes with him - and tucked the UA uniform into his bag. His hair became short and blue, just like his eyes, his skin lost its tan and a brand new teenager in a white shirt, white gloves and blue jeans emerged from a dark alley.
This was the first form of Envy that Harry would normally use when working with Giran. He was not worried that he might meet some of the Broker's acquaintances, because even if someone recognized him, he would not come up on the street. Criminals did not have a lot of contact outside of work. Especially with Lau.
Potter boarded the train heading towards his Orphanage and grabbed the handrail to maintain balance. To his left were two teenagers and Harry could not help but hear their conversation.
"Have you seen the Sports Festival? I was shocked by the number of explosions this year, Bakugo is just something else."
"Bakugo? The guy who came in third, huh? He fought like a beast, but Potter outwitted him. I still don't understand how he ended up behind him at the end of the match."
"Huh? Didn't he dig another hole?" the first teen took out his phone and turned on the video of the Bakugo vs Potter match "Here! See? He jumped out and knocked him out with a kick!"
"Damn... That must've hurt."
'Yes, my leg still hurts. The bastard has a skull made of steel.'
All in all, the road to the Orphanage was calm.
---
Before entering the Orphanage, Harry regained his own face. The teenager stopped at the doorstep and sighed heavily. After such a show, the kids will get excited and start bombarding him with questions again. Perfect. The holder of the three Philosopher's Stones turned the door handle and entered the building.
"Everyone, I'm back!" he shouted down the corridor.
In the far room, dozens of steps were heard, and after a few seconds, a crowd of children stood in front of Harry, Karin at their lead.
"It was so cool!"
"Congratulations!"
"How did you dodge that explosion?!"
"Harry, will you teach me how to fight?"
"He's was like 'bang!' And you were like 'boom!'"
The teenager watched with a smile as the children vied with each other trying to tell him something and get his attention. But then everyone in the corridor felt the sudden drop of temperature.
"Harry, do you have a minute? We need to talk." Azumi's voice sounded far too kind.
The woman stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and smiled, but her smile never reached her eyes. The children dispersed in front of the teenager, opening the way for him to pass to Azumi.
Harry gulped.
"...Of course."
The woman nodded and went into her office, Potter following her, knowing that he could not avoid this conversation.
"I hope you survive." said one of the kids and Harry nodded.
"Me too, kid, me too..."