A Silent Kind of Strength

Chapter 30

The day of the sports festival dawned bright and chilly. The spring still holding onto the nights. It would heat up quickly as the sun burned off the last of the dew from the grass. But until then Izuku made sure to keep his hands in his pockets while he walked down the streets. Cold fingers were the worst when your hands were covered in scars.

He had to yank them free in order to catch an airborne Hatsume though. She, Kaminari, and Shinso had been waiting under the tree right on the inside of the gate and the flying tackle was quickly becoming her favorite way to greet Izuku when he was the last one there. He grunted as she slammed into him and then spun her around to dissipate the force, both so he wouldn't fall and because it always made her giggle.

He set her down gently and let her tug him over to their little group. "G-good morning everyone!" Hitoshi waved with a yawn and the electric blonde gave him a nervous smile. "...did either of y-you get any sl-sleep at all?"

The purple insomniac gave him his signature smirk. "Really Izu? You're going to ask ME that?" The greenette planted his hands on his hips. "Shinso Hitoshi. I know damn well Aizawa offered you some of those low grade sleeping pills." The other boy shrugged and looked away. "Did you not take them?!"

"No, I did…"

"And you didn't sleep?" Pale fingers rubbed tiredly at purple eyes, his aloof facade in shambles before the storm of green as always. "I was so nervous I ended up fighting them… so… yeah no sleep." Kaminari gave the taller teen a supportive pat on the shoulder. "I know how ya feel man. My moms had to yell at me to stop sparking like 4 times last night. This is such a big event for the Hero course. The thought of fucking it up and getting booted is terrifying."

The pale brainwasher went paler at that thought. "Dude!" Denki pulled his hand away to use it to scratch the back of his head with a strained laugh. "Sorry. I just can't stop thinking about it!"

Mei groaned dramatically. "The chances of that are extremely low! First of all, someone would have to do good enough to compete with you hero jocks. And THEN they would have to actually want to transfer!"

"Don't most general education students want to transfer?!" Kamanari groaned, running a stressed hand through his hair again. Izuku held up a hand placatingly. "OK ok. Ch-chill. There have o-only been three tr-transfers in the last 10 years. With all of t-the training y-you two have done I doubt y-you will fail ba-badly enough to b-be the one they cut on th-the odd chance i-it happens again."

Shinso rolled his eyes again. "Says the support student who regularly kicks both of our asses." The freckled boy flushed and the other two felt themselves melting a bit at his adorableness, some of the tension draining from their shoulders. Mei gagged at their show of gay pining and started dragging Izuku away from them. "Come on! Let's get to our classrooms before we're marked as absent."

___

Izuku walked onto the turf as 1-H was called. The rest of his class a wild gaggle around him, not caring to try and walk in a neat line as those who were done with their support gear for the day dragged along those tightening last minute screws and taping sparking wires.

The group stumbled to a stop in a mass next to the orderly lines of hero and general students, making the divisions between them even more crystal clear. Izuku giggled to himself at some of the looks they were getting from the gen ed kids. When he finally turned to face the stage where Midnight was standing and preparing to give the opening speech his eyes almost bugged out of his head at her outfit.