Friday soon arrived, so once again Kai was in his seat in the classroom. There was always a brief daily session with the homeroom teacher before classes began, and for some reason, Nezu hadn't allowed him to skip that nuisance. According to Nezu, it was important because that's when significant announcements and the like were made.
After a while, Aizawa entered the classroom. All the students fell silent and sat properly in their seats, except for Kai, who simply remained sprawled over his desk as always—something the teacher ignored, as usual. Once he was behind his own desk, Aizawa began to speak.
"The U.A. Sports Festival will be held soon!"
With an unusually serious tone, Aizawa announced as he looked sternly at the students, who quickly became excited. Several couldn't help but stand up from their seats and exclaim with enthusiasm.
"IT'S FINALLY HERE!"
But as they reacted in their excitement, they abruptly stopped and turned almost robotically to look at Kai. He had lifted his head and wore a dark expression on his face. Likely because the class representative, Momo, was staring at him sharply without blinking, the terrifying young man refrained from making people faint.
Seeing this, a couple of students couldn't help but sigh in relief, congratulating themselves for having made the right decision in voting for Momo as class representative. She was the only one who could restrain the frightening boy whom even Aizawa, for some reason, pretended didn't exist despite all he did.
"Is it really okay to hold the sports festival right after villains infiltrated the school?"
The tense moment dissipated when one of the students—a girl with short black hair and what appeared to be two sound cables extending from her earlobes—asked in a somewhat worried tone while looking at Aizawa. He replied in his tired voice.
"On the contrary: continuing with the festival means the school is confident everything is under control regarding crisis management. For example, I've heard that police presence will be five times greater than normal. What you should be thinking about is... the academy's sports festival presents a great opportunity for all of you. This event won't be brought down by something like villains."
Aizawa paused briefly to look at the students, then added in a much more serious tone, a hint of pride seeping into his weary voice.
"Our sports festival is one of the biggest events in Japan! In the past, the Olympics were the sporting festival that stirred the nation's enthusiasm, but now, as you know, its scope and participation have diminished, and it's lost much influence. So what's taken the place of the Olympics in Japan is the U.A. Sports Festival!"
"The country's top heroes will surely be watching us, scouting us for recruitment." Momo commented, clenching a fist in front of her, to which Kai could only roll his eyes, as if she would ever lack a hero agency eager to "recruit" her.
"I think I'll follow the tactic of being an assistant to a professional hero after graduation." One of the students—blond-haired with a curious black lightning-shaped streak—said cheerfully, looking at the classmate next to him, the girl with the earphone jacks. She retorted with a sarcastic comment.
"But many people get stuck as assistants and lose the chance to become heroes themselves forever. You seem just that kind of idiot, Kaminari."
As young Kaminari huffed in annoyance, Aizawa spoke up loudly again, immediately capturing the students' attention. They looked at him with serious expressions.
"Naturally, joining the team of a famous hero will give you high status and more experience, but remember, time is limited. If you're noticed by a professional, it puts you in a position to have a brilliant future. This is an opportunity you have once a year—for a total of three chances. If you aspire to be heroes, this is an event you can't overlook!"
After the grand announcement, there were a couple more notices until the session with the homeroom teacher ended. Kai, after bidding farewell to Momo, casually began walking toward the exit behind Aizawa, determined to make quick progress on the commissioned project he was working on. He wanted to finish it as soon as possible to focus on his own goals.
...
At lunchtime and after a shower, Kai welcomed the girls who had come to eat, these being Momo, Nemuri, Nejire, and Mina, the latter now being a regular visitor. After a casual greeting, everyone began to eat.
"Hado, since you've experienced it before, what are the sports festivals like?" An excited Mina asked in the middle of the meal, looking at Nejire. After thinking for a moment, Nejire replied with a smile.
"Hmm... they're fun. Plus, they're a good opportunity to receive invitations for apprenticeships and internships. That's how I met Ryukyu."
"Well, I guess for the current champion they must be 'fun'..." Mina commented with an ironic smile at Nejire's sweet expression. At that moment, Nemuri added with a small grin.
"You don't have to worry so much about it. Although they're a good opportunity, you don't necessarily have to win to get noticed. It's better to show what you're capable of, and there will be heroes interested in you. And even if you don't catch attention this time, you still have two more chances to do so. For example, there's a third-year student who only managed to attract a hero's attention in his second year and is now considered a strong contender against Nejire for the championship."
"You mean Togata-san, Onee-chan?" Momo asked with a slight smile, to which Nemuri nodded while bringing her chopsticks to her mouth. Nejire added cheerfully.
"Togata has become really strong lately, but he's still not my match, fufufu."
"It's not like I have illusions of winning. After all, the star this year will be Saito. There's no one in our class, and I highly doubt there's anyone in the entire academy who can stand up to him." Mina commented with a small smile, looking at the gluttonous Kai, who was battling with Salem over a piece of meat the cunning cat wanted to steal.
"Me? Don't worry about that. Although I have to participate, I have no intention of standing out. I'll find some random excuse to get out of it as soon as possible." Kai commented casually while staring down Salem, who was showing his belly in submission. This greatly surprised Mina, who quickly asked.
"Why would you do something like that? It's a great opportunity, and there's no one who can beat you in the first year."
"Because it's a damn nuisance; I like being anonymous."
Without giving it much importance, Kai replied casually while shooing Salem away to eat his own meat. This greatly surprised Mina, who turned to look at the other girls, discovering that they all had sly little smiles on their faces. She then looked back at Kai, who had started to turn his back on them.
As Kai ignored the girls, determined not to fall into any of their plans, lunch passed quietly amid casual conversations, mainly focusing on Nejire's experiences in previous sports festivals. When lunchtime ended, after saying their goodbyes, Kai, Momo, Mina, and Nemuri walked to the classroom, as Nemuri would be teaching the class today.
...
When the class ended, Kai stretched casually while the other students left the room. Suddenly, a crowd formed at the entrance as Uraraka was about to exit, which greatly surprised the curious girl. She couldn't help but exclaim loudly.
"W-What's happening?!"
Noticing the hustle and bustle, Momo, as the class representative that she was, quickly walked to the door to understand what was going on. She was a little surprised by the large crowd, but she quickly composed herself and asked with a serious and elegant tone.
"Excuse me, but do you need something from our Class 1-A?"
"They came to observe the enemy. They want to see the ones who survived the villains' ambush. They're examining us before the big battle."
In response came Bakugo's voice, who commented in a rather calm tone. He didn't dare get too worked up with the representative, or the watchdog might jump at his throat before he realized what was happening. And even if that didn't happen, he wasn't in the mood to be knocked out today. But since he still had some bite to show, upon reaching the crowd, he added in a much more aggressive tone.
"There's no point in trying, so why don't you all just get the hell out of here, damn rabble."
"Bakugo-san, don't call the other students 'rabble'." In response came Momo's voice, who spoke in a reproachful tone with her arms crossed, causing Bakugo to look at her for a moment, then comment with annoyance in his tone.
"Whatever."
"I came to see what you're made of, but I didn't think you'd be this arrogant. Are all those enrolled in the Hero Course like this?"
Suddenly, from the back of the crowd, a young man with indigo hair stepped forward, quickly standing in front of Bakugo. Bakugo glared down at him as veins began to throb on his forehead, letting out an irritated grunt.
"I'm a bit disappointed. So that's all you are, huh?" The indigo-haired youth remarked cynically as he looked at the gathered Class 1-A students. He then added in a more serious tone.
"There are a lot of people who are in the general education department or other departments because they failed to access the hero course, did you know that? And, based on the results of the sports festival, they can even enter review to be transferred to the hero course and the opposite can also happen..."
The young man's words caused a nervous expression on Midoriya's face, something he quickly noticed. He began to look at all the other students, then added with a slightly arrogant tone, having a defiant grin on his face.
"Spying on the competition? At least I, from General Studies... will wipe the floor with you if you take it lightly. Consider this a declaration of war."
Just then, Kai, with a sleeping Salem on his shoulder, arrived next to Momo. Kai handed Momo her suitcase, while extending his hook arm for her to take it, which she did with a small smile, then walking together to the exit. At which point, Kai commented in a casual tone as his Conqueror's Haki began to emerge from him.
"Move."
Feeling an overwhelming terror, the students began to visibly tremble, then quickly walked away from the place. At which point Kai nodded in satisfaction, then deactivated his Conqueror's Haki while Momo pinched his arm and looked at him with accusatory eyes, something he ignored completely as he continued walking casually.
Meanwhile, several students who didn't run away—such as the indigo-haired boy and another with silver hair, without eyebrows and with strange yellow eyelashes surrounding his eyes like a mask—looked with serious expressions at the young man who walked calmly. The indigo-haired boy wanted to speak but, after a moment, decided to remain silent and instead walked away while several Class A students stifled their laughter and gave thumbs up to the terrifying blue-eyed boy.